God Thinks You're Wonderful!

The Sweetest Things...

2012-02-07T20:36:00.004-06:00

This past Saturday we had a fun day planned for the kids. Blake took each one out by themselves to have some daddy time. It was so cute and fun for them all. Cooper got to do breakfast, Owen got to go bowling and lunch and Sadie (Emery ended up sick) got to go to the Chick-Fil-A Daddy Daughter Date night. Can you tell she was excited? She told Blake to put on his lipstick. ;o)

Ah! One of my favs! Self portraits...what a cutie!

Then he snapped one of bub! Look at that smile!

My parents headed back to Ghana last Thursday. My mom was clever and planned ahead knowing their layover would be in Atlanta again, they flew in and stayed all day with us! It was SO MUCH FUN!!!! Our hearts were filled and it was just enough to get us by until our next family visit.

They made it safely to Ghana and are having a wonderful time sharing and teaching CR. To follow their journey check out their blog on my sidebar.

And check out our sweet lilbit. Oh she is at such a fun age!!! Please excuse our ashy legs...we had a fun playful afternoon.

Peek-a-boo....oh lawdy I love that smile. And these two...boy have they continued to bond over the last few months. Sadie just hates it when Emme naps longer than her. She just begs us to wake her so they can play. The other morning at breakfast I asked the kids what they wanted to thank God for. Without hesitation Sadie blurted, "My Emery. She is good for me." Melt.my.heart. And in this pic...she was trying to cheer her up in the car and they started playing "Stinky Feet". It worked.

Sometimes I just have to pin him down for a picture. You gotta do whatcha gotta do. But this pic will never let me forget this stage of camera-shyness (ya, I know...not a word). Notice the people checkin us out at the MLK Jr Day parade. We are always making a scene with our traveling circus!

Picture post

2012-02-04T21:14:00.005-06:00

These are pictures from before Christmas that I never posted! Blake's parents came and visited us after Thanksgiving and we went to Stone Mountain Park again. This shows the skyride or gondola going up the mountain (as well as the kids dying to play in the water!)

Isn't this a great pic?!?! I feel like the boys never want to take pictures, so I love when I get great ones with them!!!

She loves riding on your shoulders and adding a little of her own hair "gel" aka slobber.

I love how you can see her smile even when you can hardly see her face. I pray she always walks through life with this joy.

Sadie sure is bonding with her sister. When Emery is napping and Sadie is up, she wants so badly to wake her to play. It's precious!

Sadie really wanted to pose by this snowman. She is so into pictures lately :) Wowzers on the blonde hair. It's mellowed out a bit now. Yikes!

Isn't this sweet? Well, all except Owen's face. This is how he feels about pictures. Oh mom!

They took us out at the kids favorite burger place!

One of my favorite pictures of us! Its on top of Stone Mountain and behind us is downtown Atlanta (although I just looked and I can't find it...it's there I promise!)

Awww. Me and my honey...not sure who the cameraman was, but good job guys!

Haha! Our teeny tree! We were only here until Dec. 16th, but I had to have at least a lil something! The kids loved it and it added lots of color to our apartment.

Eeeek. Blog fail

2012-01-27T06:30:00.009-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted in so long! I am gearing up for the half marathon so running plus mothering 4 babes and being an awesome wife (totally kidding-I am only subpar) leaves little blog time!!!! We joined the Y!!! It has been so much fun for the kids to get to play basketball! What a great picture.

This is our new favorite hang out spot! Especially when the weather is too cold for the park.

I think they are worn out!! How cute is this?

And here's our little cheerleader! She loves banging on the seats!!!

A visit to the aquarium again. Isn't she crazy beautiful?!?!

I did Sadie's hair last Friday. I did flat rope twists up into one puff! I LOVED how it turned out! It officially lasted a week! Completely thrilled with that.

I think they feel comfortable at the aquarium, don't you??

MLK Jr. day parade in Atlanta! What a wonderful day to live in this city!

Sadie sporting her adorable faux frohawk. I LOVE doing her hair! She had so much fun watching the parade.

This was the closest we got to a family pic, thank you Owen for taking it!!!

HOW COOL! Not sure what group this was but they sang and stomped and there were lots of races amongst them...do you see Ebenezer Baptist Church behind them? This is THE church that Martin Luther King, Jr. himself preached at!

Oh man...I love this picture. I am quite certain that I have the best husband alive. He also is the best daddy alive. I am not partial at all by the way.

So you might be wondering...we were 2 of only a dozen other white people at the parade. As sad as I am that more of my Caucasian friends don't come to these parades, some comments from other patrons are less than encouraging. One guy was trying to sell me a picture of MLK so he hollered at me, "You look like you come to these things all of the time." What do I say to that? I wanted to yank him by the ear pulling him aside to remind him that my children could feel the stares and his comment did not help them feel like they belong here. Matter of fact, us being here was the complete reason MLK Jr spent his life preaching about love, acceptance and equal rights. Blake and I were so thankful that with each year that we go to the parade, or maybe as we mature, we feel more comfortable and sweat less ;)

Oh lands. This might just be an all time favorite pic of mine. How in the world am I so blessed?!?!

I Refuse...

2012-01-14T07:45:00.003-06:00

Sometimes I just want to close my eyes
And act like everyone's alright
When I know they're not

This world needs God
But it's easier to stand and watch
I could say a prayer and just move on
Like nothing's wrong

But I refuse
'Cause I don't want to live like I don't care
I don't want to say another empty prayer
Oh, I refuse

To sit around and wait for someone else
To do what God has called me to do myself
Oh, I could choose
Not to move but I refuse

I can hear the least of these
Crying out so desperately
And I know we are the hands and feet
Of You, oh God

So, if You say move
It's time for me to follow through
And do what I was made to do
Show them who You are

I hope you've heard this song...it so speaks of what my heart feels about our love for Jesus and our lives being lived out for Him. We cannot say we belong to Jesus and then live a life that resembles nothing of Him. If we do, then our hearts aren't truly His, right?

I thought of this song as I read a new link on our adoption agencies website. I hope you will take a second to read this...it's heart breaking and at the same time shows that we all need to say "I REFUSE" to sit here any longer. Did you know that even with all of the adoptions that we hear about and take place worldwide, that 14,050,000 children remain orphans and age out of the system every year!

God use me. Break me. Remind us that this life is not mine, but yours. Any fears we have about what you might be calling us to is not from you...for you do not give us a spirit of fear.

Christmas Catch Up

2012-01-05T09:35:00.011-06:00

We were able to come HOME for Christmas, and what a time of joy it was! We started a new tradition on New Years Day! This was at a free family fun run after church on Sunday. It was a blast and we were so proud of everyone that came. My sister Laura and I have been running lots in 2011 and completed our first 15k in October. Our other sister Becki and our daddy said they would run it with us next year, so we thought this would be a great way to kick off that goal. AND, Laura and I registered for our first HALF MARATHON!!! She is flying to Atlanta to run it with me and I feel like the luckiest most blessed gal on earth!
The boys had so much fun and actually CHOSE to do the 4 mile run! They regretted that about one block past the 2 mile turn though!!! Those Grunewald boys are great athletes.

Noonie and Papa ran most of the way pushing the girls!!!

Oh man...this was right as we were leaving Tulsa and saying good-bye. The kids were all so sad. Less than 5 months guys! We can do it!

We were able to see old friends and man did it fill our love tanks!!! We are so blessed to have friends that have prayed for us while we've been gone.

We had fun with our cousins...

Our daddy even got to fly in for 5 days!!! Oh how we needed that time with him. We were so thankful.

Waiting to come down stairs on Christmas morning! Man, are we blessed! We opened WAY too many gifts. But enjoyed a new tradition of giving a gift to Jesus this year. The kids got money from us and got to choose (which meant the boys chose, the girls didn't get it) how they wanted to give something to Jesus. They chose to help our dear friend Joey Armstrong. Please take a minute to check out his blog. He is a wonderfully talented writer, and lives his life for Jesus. We were so thankful that our kids know a little bit more about all the ways to love on Jesus on HIS BIRTHDAY!!!

(Please excuse that the pics are out of order, but I couldn't move them for some reason). This is our rescue trip home. My mom selflessly flew out to Atlanta on December 12th, stayed with us and packed us up and DROVE us home on December 15th! This pic was taken at lunch when we were almost to Oklahoma!!!

My grandmother took us to see the incredible lights at Rhema. We were dying to see lights because in Atlanta, if the lights are worth looking at they cost a fortune to view!

She is so silly and LOVED these sunglasses her sister got for Christmas.

Emery got her first American Girl bitty baby! She immediately kissed all over her!

Owen's "Holiday" program at school. He sure does love his new teacher and has made so many wonderful friends!

Then my mama drove us all.the.way.back.here. Seriously, how blessed are we to have family that loves on us so well. I got to spend almost 4 weeks with my mama!!! Oh how my heart needed that. As wonderful as it feels to be here with Blake, we are all looking forward to our final return Memorial Day weekend. Both boys kept warning us they were not coming back to Atlanta with us! And even Sadie told Noonie she wanted to go with her when we dropped her off at the Marta yesterday.

So proud of our Cooper

2011-12-10T10:06:00.003-06:00

Some of you may have already seen this, but I had to post it here so that our first families could see it too.

Cooper worked so hard to memorize these verses, and I cried just about every time he's said it.

There is just something about a child knowing the Bible and the real reason that we celebrate Christmas. May this always be our focus, not just during this time of year!

We HEART Curls!!!

2011-12-08T08:49:00.006-06:00

I have been wanting to do a hair post...so here goes. As much as I would like to say I am 6 years into my hair care education, I am probably more like one year. I am such a beginner.

When the guys were born their hair didn't stay curly (except when wet) until they were 9+ months. And even though there was lots for me to learn about curls, I had no idea how easy their hair was!

Our routine for their biracial short hair is: wash weekly, but I mostly still just co-wash (conditioner wash, no shampoo) even for them. They sleep on satin pillowcases, but no sleep cap or durag. In the mornings while they brush their teeth I dampen their hair with my spray bottle with water and 2 tsp conditioner mix and add some type of curl activator or light hair lotion. Most ethnic products are too heavy and weigh their curls down or make them appear greasy. Then I comb through to separate the curls. If their hair is less than 4 inches I don't even need the Tangle Teezer, but sometimes they prefer it over a plastic comb.

For the girls...I have been blessed enough with some great friends that have shown me some wonderful blogs (right side column)! What I had learned about the boys hair (don't wash daily and certainly don't use shampoo daily) helped me a ton with the girls. And since Sadie's hair was so short and hardly grew for the first 2 years, it's been a slow go. We've found some great sleep caps both online and at Walmart. And I added satin scarfs to their carseats. I think all of these things have helped. Last winter I started twisting their hair for the first time...this was then!I am still twisting now...but it's neat to see how much their hair has grown and filled in. This is our set up for now. See my hair bag or as Blake called it my "traveling salon"? I found it at Walmart and it works great because of all of the pockets. It has rubber bands, beads, products, combs, brushes, scissors, barretts, bows, and our spray bottle. I LOVE my bag!!! The girls usually watch cartoons or a movie and Sadie painted and did crafts last time. We have snacks and drinks close. Before style time I have already washed, detangled and sectioned their hair in the tub the night before. The guys are usually at school when we do hair. This pic above is the first time I tried stretching on Emery. This is where you band the hair when it's damp and let it dry with the bands on so that their is not as much shrinking. It works pretty well! Look close at this pic and you can see how long her hair actually is when its stretched out!

I have had Sadie's hair braided a couple of times. Meaning I took her or had someone else braid it. I like this for a couple of reasons. 1.) Their braids stay in for WEEKS (3+), mine stay in for a week tops. The less you manipulate their hair, the less breakage and more growth you have. 2.) I learn new stuff by watching and going and asking questions. 3.) It's a great opportunity to form new relationships with people. Healthy, intimate relationships with other African Americans. But we can't do it all the time, or I don't want to. I think it's great bonding for me and the girls when I do their hair. I want them to know how much I love taking care of them and their hair. And it costs money to take them, so we can't do it all of the time.

This place I took her costs $55 for a whole head of cornrows. Luckily they didn't want to do her whole head because the hair in her "kitchen" is still very short and tender. Am I the only one that had to look up "kitchen"? Ha!! See how much you can learn!?!?For the girls, you really have to keep some type of moisture on it constantly. We love coconut oil at night or on braids...well pretty much anytime! It's amazing how soft their hair can be. And we found a new product at Target that I am in love with!!! It's great for a teeny weeny afro or for puffs. It's called Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie and YUMMO does it smell good. I didn't think it was too costly ($10 for 12 oz) and it's a Fair Trade product!

Do You Love Jesus?

2011-12-06T11:28:00.005-06:00

This is my absolute favorite time of year. I get teary hearing certain Christmas songs about the birth of our Savior...how He became human for us.

This song is my new all time favorite because it keeps reminding me of such truth of the season...

And something I hardly ever do is steer you to another site. But there is something that has been stirring in my heart for years. My first youth pastor and his wife have have had the same stirring. Jen has written about it and I pray you will take a minute to read what she says about Christmas. She writes so much better than I ever could. She is so bold and honest. If you love Jesus, please please read what she writes.

My prayer is that our children always know that Jesus is what Christmas is about, not Santa, not gifts.

I Hope I Never Forget...

2011-12-03T18:57:00.009-06:00

I hope I never forget how much I sweat during this photo session! What was I thinking? Taking pictures after school is not a good idea...even with backup. But these do make me laugh!

There are so many things that happen in a day that make me giggle. Funny things that the kids say or that happen to us...I want to take a minute to jot down a few so that I will never forget this stage in our life.

Sadie loves her brothers and wants to be just like them. As sweet as that is, it can lead to some really funny or awkward moments. Like her playing until she had a pee pee emergency, so she just dropped trou and squatted IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PARK!!! Wha? No baby baby. Girls don't tee tee outside.

On the days when it's hot, the guys start stripping off their shirts. Sister follows and is so sad to hear that she has to cover up her "pumps". She calls her bumps "pumps". I wear my insulin pump in my bra. Whoops. Guess we need to have a "parts" talk.

She is also convinced she has a penis. Her belly button was an outie forever. For the longest time she would pretend to potty with the boys. She'd stand facing the potty, tuck her shirt under her chin and yank on her belly button just waiting for something to come out. Bless.her.heart! Luckily her belly button has gone in, and she just thinks it's funny to say the word.

Right now we are working on being ladylike and keeping your privates to yourself. Lately she keeps whispering, "Mom. They can't see my pirates!" Its just too cute and I can't correct her.

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I was lucky enough to join Owen for lunch at school last week and it was a blast. All the kids were SO excited about the "holidays" and the conversation started:

Joshua: "If you celebrate Hanukkah you get more presents than if you celebrate Christmas."

I giggle and he continues, "That's what my dad says." (bwahahaha)

They boys got to talking about who celebrated what, some both, some Hanukkah and most Christmas. So I asked, "Do you know why some people celebrate one and some the other?"

The boy next to me pipes up, "Yes! If you believe in Santa you celebrate Christmas!"

Oh man. Are we off or what?!?! I looked bug-eyed at Owen hoping he might think that was odd since we really don't do Santa. Nope. He just chimed in, "I believe in Santa!" Dang.

__________________________________________

Blake went in to practice the other day and a player told him he looked hung over. If you know Blake you'll know why that's so funny. Blake replied, "Listen man. I have 4 kids. It's always a party at my house."

_________________________________________

Sadie speak:

Her favorite bedtime delay, "Will you skwaatch my back?" Even after you HAVE skwaatched and skwaatched!

scabetti= spaghetti

wogurt=oatmeal or yogurt

my baby= Emery Faith

pena putta= peanut butter

When she gets in trouble, "Mama, eww bein wude to me!" ____________________________________

Sadie was jumping on our bed and we asked her to stop. She continued. Blake said something about her being sassypants. She stopped bouncing and said, "Daddy. I not fassypants. Ina hurt eww."

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I picked up Coop from school one day and he told me that his teacher didn't know the words to Jesus Loves the Little Children. I immediately knew what he was going to say. He explained she left out the color brown in her version of the song. It's so hard for kids to understand that song and what red and yellow mean and why brown is not included. So I just told him he needed to teach her how we sing it:

Jesus loves the little children,

All the children of the world,

Red and yellow, black, brown, white

They are precious in his sight.

Jesus loves the little children of the world!

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Blake and I have held off and not put the kids in organized sports as of yet. We got so excited because we found a church basketball league that is starting soon. Blake's schedule should be slowing down. The weather is getting cold and we need an outlet for our wiggles. Perfect timing for both boys. We excitedly tell them and ask if they want to do it. Cooper said no, and got mad as I questioned why. His response? I will sweat. I will get thirsty. I just like to shoot and don't like "real" basketball. Are you serious? Kid, you have awesome talent!! Crack.me.up! Owen quickly followed. They both were out and the more we tried to persuade them, we realized who their parents were. Holy bananas they are stubborn and so are we! ;o) We asked them to sleep on it and let us know this morning. Shocker, they are not at all on board. But they did both say, "We want to play football!"

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I pride myself in dying my own hair. It goes just fine about 90% of the time. But there might be a few times I've had to wear slightly purple or grey hair around. Yikes. Well this last go round I got caught up in a murder investigation show and before I knew it I was platinum blonde. Oops. The following night I was bathing the kids and Cooper said, "Mom. Your hair is kinda black. I mean. Up there it looks burnt. " Oh lands. He was talking about my roots people. _________________________________________

Funny things in Atlanta:

They use needles from pine trees as mulch. It's everywhere in the streets like tumbleweed.

There are endless numbers of Lowe's bags filled with leaves sitting on everyone's curb. Not sure what this is except perhaps a biodegradable bag?

Things are "spensive" around here! Do you know I have to pay to park to go see the doctor? And it's $4 for the first 30-1.5hrs! I looked like a fool when I gasped at the toll guy telling me I owed $5 for going to the doctor. No bueno people. And I could hardly squeeze out of my car after I parked. For reals. To see Christmas lights, in your car no less, it's $40 on a weekday and $60 on the weekend.

The malls here are SWANKY. I had avoided them for multiple reasons, but had to get some StarWars cookie cutters from Williams Sonoma. So with 3 babes in tow, we headed to the one that was not as ritzy. The second we walked in, my eyes hit the floor. I couldn't make eye contact with anyone. I was wearing my normal SAHM clothing= jeans, tennies and a Tshirt. Mkay. Everyone else was in business/church attire. And then there is me, with 3 kids...and my 3 kids happen to be brown. And gorgeous. And we kinda already stick out. I pitted out my shirt in 5 seconds flat.

I have a new addiction to the Goodwill. There. I said it. We love shopping there. The girls get to play with the toys while I look for odds and ends I left behind in storage. We've found rain boots for the kids, books, toys, furniture. And you know it's bad when the workers know us now :/

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Okay. That's enough for now. I will try and keep better track of the sweet things my kiddos say so that I can tell them one day. Hope they made you giggle!

Thankful Thursday!!!

2011-12-01T12:45:00.003-06:00

Hope these make you smile! We have a LOT to be thankful for right now!!!

My bestest friend in the whole wide world!

And my forever babycakes. Please don't tell me she's not a baby anymore. I know. But she will always be my baby!

How is he 5?

2011-11-22T10:37:00.011-06:00

I swear this was yesterday. Oh how I miss her. When people ask if we are liking Atlanta and if we think we will stay, I have a hard time not laughing. We love it here, don't get me wrong. But we have so much more in Oklahoma. We not only have our friends and family, we have our birth families that we miss so so much. And as every birthday creeps up, my heart can't help but cling to those sweet moments we shared with each of them surrounding the birth of these miracles. I can't live without them in my life.

And now he's 5. He is an incredible young man. Blake and I are so proud of him for the decisions he makes to love others and serve others. He is sensitive. He is patient. He is passionate. He now wants to be a sword fighter when he grows up. "Well play football and practice sword fighting". Huh? It makes sense to him! He is curious about God and Jesus and wants to know so badly what it feels like to have Jesus in your heart. Oh how I love those talks...

So last night for his special day we let him choose the plans for the day and or dinner. Despite my awesome skills in the kitchen, he chose the local burger joint. Blake surprised us all with ice cream afterwards! Yummo! Do you see it running down her hand? It's possible I picked the ice cream flavor for her. One day I will have to get my own cone!

Isn't he a pumpkin? Sharing with the slobbery baby. He doesn't care. This guy loves his baby slobber and all.

Cooper picked going to park over every other option I gave him for his birthday. Isn't that funny? The park we go to daily. My kids are easily pleased. This is Sadie's first time to climb a real tree. She has mastered the large Crape Myrtles here. In Georgia, the Crape Myrtles are massive and climbable.

The boys had so much fun wrestling in the leaves. I love it because there are quite a few boys the same age that come to the park...they know each other from school. They all joined in!

Opening presents first thing in the morning! HE COULD NOT WAIT!!!

Pushing his sissy. Too bad she hated it. She was screaming!!!

Birthday party pics!!! We had some friends come to play at the park for Cooper's costume party. It was so much fun! Sadie rocking her dress up wedding shoes. It's scary how good she is in heels!

Cooper looks thrilled. These are two of his friends from PreK! He has met such sweet friends at school.

Getting ready to sing! Can you see those cute Star Wars cupcakes?

The kids got to decorate their own Star Wars sugar cookies. Well, that is until Sadie started licking the sprinkles dispenser and the knives. Lil stinker.

We took all of our dress up clothes and costumes. The kids had fun traded costumes and trying on new stuff. We just might have to do this again one year!

I even found a cool Darth Vader pinata.
We have so many things to be thankful for this year. This day I was thankful for new friends in our life that could help us make Cooper feel loved and special since we didn't have our family. I have never felt so indebted to people showing up for this...but I was scared to death no one would come. You know how things get busy and you forget a party? Thank you Jesus for these precious people! And thank you for the sunshine so that we could play at the park!!!

I am adopted

2011-11-16T09:13:00.004-06:00

I love the adoption community. I feel like I've been rather plucked out of it here in the ATL. But, thank you Jesus for using facebook...I can keep my heart intertwined to those I have grown to love that share this passion.

I have "met" people that I never would have through adoption/orphan care ministries, adoption support groups, waiting mom's coffee groups, and yes...even facebook. It's amazing the support and encouragement there is out there if you just search for it.

I saw something a week ago that captured my heart and hasn't left my mind. It's a bold prayer that verbalizes THE reason more of us don't step forward into foster care and adoption. We forget who we are. Read this that was posted by a friend who is a mother in the beginning stages of foster care...

"Today I am thankful for God's adoption of me into his family. He looked at my life's file and saw all the selfishness, and anger and ugliness of my past and present, and he still chose to pursue spending eternity unconditionally loving me as his child. I pray he will give me the strength, grace and mercy to do the same."

If I had a nickle for every time someone told me they would LOVE to foster care/adopt, BUT...

This mom understands that SHE cannot do any of this without HER FATHER. None of us can, but we often forget that. She is no more equipped or ready than the rest of us. But she fully grasps that God can and will use her right where she is. Our lives are about HIM and not us.

Lord, please help us to understand that you died on the cross and forgave us of our sins so that we may live in FREEDOM!!! Not fear. Open our eyes Lord to the many excuses we give you for not obeying you...help us to see that for what it is. Fear. We aren't fully trusting you with every part of us; be it finances, our family, our entertainment, or our hearts. Remind us daily that you adopted us, fully aware of how messed up and needy we are. You took us and called us YOURS knowing we had special needs and that we would hurt your other children. And you did nothing but receive us time and time again with open arms. May we do the same.

Please join me in praying for Joe and Carrie pictured above. They currently have 3children and they are hoping to meet their 4 foster children this week.

Children of God

2011-11-14T12:28:00.002-06:00

I am sorry I keep posting videos. But I just can't say it anymore powerful than these people do. I am not good getting out what's on my heart.

I so badly want to be able to do something...and I think that there is an opportunity with our church. I am so excited to see what happens. They have a program called Fostering Together. Their goal is to not only provide more homes for foster children, but allow the church to better support these foster families so that they not only survive the process, but want to continue to foster. We are not going to foster, but we can be a support family to a family already fostering. We can help with daytime care for them!

We still have to be approved and go through fingerprints and background checks and all, but it's just so exciting! After all is good to go they will match us up with a family. We'll keep you posted!

Show Hope

2011-11-11T09:44:00.001-06:00

We Have No Choice

2011-11-10T10:02:00.002-06:00

Bold statements here. God calls us to this. We have been made aware. And we have no choice but to do something.

"We should be leading the change on this, it's what Jesus calls us to do."

24,000

2011-11-08T06:47:00.003-06:00

24,000 young adults age out of the foster care system every year...with no one to call their family.

If not you, then who will?

The Perfect Morning

2011-11-05T19:51:00.006-05:00

This morning all munchkins slept in until 6:30! Then one by one, the bigs all piled into our bed. Blake and I smiled at each other, turned on cartoons and enjoyed the cuddles. And then we heard squeals from Emery's room. We all giggled it was like she knew something was happening without her. Off Owen ran and plucked her from her crib. She rules the roost when it comes to mama. She wants to be the one closest to me. So she climbed right on my chest, fanny in my face and watched cartoons with her big brothers and sister. I can't help but just love it. Oh how full my heart is.

Thursday was a fun day because I surprised the kids with slushes at Quiktrip. When I asked to take a pic, this is what I got. Look at those expressions! Oh my word!! They crack me up!

Look at Lil Bit. She is 16 months people! Yes. Her mama gave her HER OWN smoothie. I know. Tisk tisk. But look at the excitement on her face. Priceless.I think Sadie's smile says "thank you", don't you? I wouldn't let them get in the car until all pink slushy drinks were consumed or in the trash....so they climbed on it. Here she is a bit earlier as we were picking up Owen after school. She found the bag of popcorn for snack and started running with it. I was laughing so hard I could hardly snap the picture. Wrestle mania is one of our favorites...so is Tickle Monster. Emery has learned how to jump on daddy too. In fact, this night she saw Blake roughing Cooper and she walked up to him and slapped his face...hard and gave him the stink-eye. I love it!

With all of these sweet moments with the kids, the smells and sounds of fall, and the beautiful things happening in nature to remind us of God's power...I just can't help but think of foster kids. These videos I've found just linger in my mind and heart. I can't begin to imagine what it must feel like to be that alone. I am a strong, independent, deeply loved woman and I have felt alone here in this new city. And I am a well-adjusted 32 year old lover of Jesus. So being 4 and ripped from my home then shuffled from one home to the next is more than I can wrap my head around. Please pray for our system...pray for loving people to step forward.

1 in 5

2011-11-04T14:45:00.004-05:00

Listen closely...please take 5 minutes to watch this.

1 in 5 children in foster care will age out of the system without a family or a home.

National Adoption Month

2011-11-03T08:00:00.004-05:00

Just get ready. If you don't want to be constantly reminded this month of my passion for adoption...just take November off.

But as Thanksgiving approaches with all of the fun festivities we have in our lives for the next 2 months...please remember those without a family. There are children, tweens, teenagers and those aging out of our system daily. IN.OUR.OWN.CITY. Not to mention the millions world-wide.

They know turmoil, not the love of Jesus. They know abadonment, not unconditional love. They know judgement, not acceptance. Please watch this video and pray with me!

Fall Fun

2011-11-01T06:35:00.011-05:00

**These are in a really random order, but our family would rather see them random than not at all ;o) **Two Jedi to keep us safe on our night out! Love the intensity of Owen's face! Trunk or Treat at Cooper's school! Emery loved playing skee ball. She wouldn't let anyone else play!

Trick or Treating with the cutest lamb EVER!

Our munchkins!!! Man, they are CUTE!

She was totally amazed that people were just handing her GOBS of "canny". She even thanked God for the canny in her prayer last night! It is her dream come true.

Oh mercy! This neighborhood we landed in knows how to do Halloween! This is our friend Susan...her son goes to the same school Owen does. They go all out people! They had the street closed and police out directing traffic at the crosswalks!

Waiting at the park as the neighborhood gathers to go out together.

Blake made it to the park just in time! We were so thankful!!!

She knows how to pose now! She even says, "chee" for cheese!

Owen had Character Parade at school and they all got to dress up as their favorite book character. Thank you Gigi for helping us find a book about Luke Skywalker!

Making pumpkin shaped rice krispy treats!
Our first pumpkin carving!!! I know!!! We have never done this before!

The kids had so much fun helping!Blake was home in time to do the carving! Cooper! I love the face! The insides are so nasty, huh? So proud!

A petting zoo came to Cooper's school and they told us to bring the girls. What fun!

Emme wasn't too sure

I think she is putting on her brakes Coop. She does not want any closer to this cow!

Cooper and his buddies from school!

Numero Uno

2011-10-31T08:15:00.000-05:00

Owen, pumpkin...this has been a busy school year for you already. You are learning so much and I am sooo thankful. You are now reading!!!! I am so proud of you. This past weekend you learned to tie your shoes. You absolutely love going to school and you get wonderful reports. I am continually amazed at your ability to make friends everywhere you go. You are still my little ball of energy and yet somehow you contain yourself for school. You are a wonerful helper to your teacher! You had your first field trip last week and rode on the bus for the first time for the field trip. That's a LOT of first in just a few days buddy.

Muffins for Moms at school!

Last Wednesday you and I were able to go to Muffins for Moms at your school. It was such a blessing to be with you ALONE. That's a rare thing for you and I. So many times it breaks my heart that I cannot volunteer and be more present at school. And that we don't get a lot of one on one time. But the other night at bed you started asking about another baby. You really never tell me you are going to pray about something...and yet you told me you were going to pray about it. You were going to ask for God for just one more baby. It made me smile. I am so thankful you don't feel lost in all the munchkins or that you don't get enough time for yourself.

Daddy didn't get to come to Donuts for Dad's so he came and had lunch with you at school! You guys had so much fun together!!! (thanks babe for snapping a pic for me!)

Owen, mommy and daddy are so proud of you for how you've handled our move this year...we know it has not been easy. Through YOU we have met so many wonderful families! You love going to our new church here and that's a huge change from Oklahoma. Thanks for being such a trooper! You have taught me so much about how to be a better mother Owen. I am sorry you've had to be my guinea pig. But I am learning, and asking for God to change me into the mommy He needs me to be. Love you buddy!

Stone Mountain Park- Part 2

2011-10-26T18:30:00.009-05:00

The kids LOVED riding the SkyRide to the top of the mountain! Sadie said, "Issa moutin! HIYEEE moutin!" Emery's favorite thing on top was splashing in all the puddles! Our kids were quite the mess when we left, but isn't that what's supposed to happen when you play hard?

Stopping to take a peek, from here you can see downtown Atlanta.

Just off the gondola, sorry you can't see the incredible view behind me but I had to brighten the exposure of the picture so you can see my sweeties! This is a constant struggle we have with all of the different shades of brown in our family. I have to edit almost every picture of Emery to get her beautiful features to appear. Perhaps I need to save up for one of those fancy shmancy cameras? I have become quite good at editing and adjusting the exposure/contrast and all. This is the SkyHike. Its a family ropes course...here Sadie is dangling off the zipline! She loved it!!!

Cooper on the zipline. Shocker that Owen sped past me so I missed his photo op!

They had SOOO much fun and wanted to race through the course again and again. Insert a sweaty mom needing a ponytail holder!

Stopping for a little picnic.

Some more putt putt. It's quite a funny game. Somehow we have raised 4 extremely independent children. I have no clue how. Couldn't be that we are a wee bit stubborn ourselves. No. Not me. Sadie loves to play putt putt, but doesn't want to recieve instruction...she wants to do it Sadie style. Oh how redonkulous we look, I am sure. But we just giggle.

The kids at the lake. Emery wanted IN the water. She got so mad that I wouldn't let her in. A poor older woman was watching us from her car. Bless her heart she was terrified. From where she was, what I was allowing my kids to do looked terribly dangerous. And here I was encouraging it and photographing it. She got to hooping and hollering at me, but I couldn't understand a darn thing she was saying. Her daughter kindly explained she was worried about the kids. What do you say to this? I don't feel like I should apologize for letting my kids play on the bank of a lake. Aye yi yi. The awkward moments in parenting...

This was the second time this happened while we were at Stone Mountain Park. The first time a lady was grossed out because Emery had a messy face. Mkay people. For real? We are at a park, PLAYING. So what if she is covered head to toe in mulch and sand. She is exploring, learning and developing her senses. If this is not how you let your children grow, no problem. But don't judge me for letting her get into it. I watched parent after parent scowl at their kids, even yell at them to not go near the sandbox. I realize I am from Oklahoma, and I am a lil bit country. But while I am not forcing your kid to play like mine do, don't force me to clean my child up while she is playing so that you don't have to see it. This lady wouldn't let it go asking me if I didn't have tissues or wipes. "I have some. They are in the car." She offered to give me some. "We are good, but thank you." She wouldn't give up and proceeded to dig hers out and hand me one telling me to wipe her face. If it's not obvious I struggle with mommy guilt and self-esteem. The fact that Blake was gone and I had these two situations happen within hours of one another, I found myself stewing over them. Maybe they are right? Maybe I should be more cautious. Maybe I shouldn't let the boys climb and jump so much? Maybe, maybe, maybe.

Lord help me to follow you and only seek your approval. Please break me of my pride. The gap between what kind of mother I want to be and that which I am seems to be GAPING wide and overwhelming. Thank you for standing in that gap and using me just how I am...country and all. Thank you for trusting me with each of these angels. May I remember daily that I cannot be enough for them and that I must constantly teach them of their need for YOU. Help me to tell them of my mistakes as a mom and daily talk about needing You to live in me. As other moms give me advice help me to have patience and not be so dang prideful. Thank you for being my Savior and filling my heart with JOY.

Stone Mountain Park...part 1

2011-10-24T07:09:00.012-05:00

We have found a magical place. As Blake said, it's the perfect place for our family. Here are just a FEW pics of the hundreds I took over the last two days. Hope you enjoy! This is Stone Mountain Park... Emery is uber affectionate. And we all just eat it up. She was just kissing on Blake and I actually caught one on camera!

Cooper helping Emery play the games too! He is amazing with her, so patient and wants her to get to do everything. Not that Owen and Sadie aren't that way too, but there is something about Cooper and his Emery.

And somehow...if this day could get any better, we actually ran into Usher. THE Usher. The boys ran out in front of us and started playing with these kids and Blake looked up and thought, "That guy looks really familiar." Then it hit him and he walked over and told me. We were SO close and it took all I had to not make a fool of myself, but Blake reminded me that he was with his family. So I opted to take this picture of the back of his head. HA!

This place was so cool, it had air guns for the kids to shoot these soft balls in the air.

It's a bit fuzzy, and my hair is odd...but look! EMERY IS SMILING!!! This is her silly face. She is such a hoot!

This is her "whoa is me" face. She keeps us laughing!

Putt putt was a huge hit!!! Blake attempting to play putt-putt before Emery steals his ball. It was like soccer/golf. He was hoping I would put the camera down and get the baby...but this girl wants to BE IN IT. She loves being one of the big kids!

She found the train...

This is currently my fav style for her hair. It's just too cute and so fun! Remind me of this when I am needing hairstyles for school pics one day. Mkay?

Blake was in Miami this day. We stayed at the park for 5+ hours. It was a blast, but we were all pooped at the end of it! Owen took this for me! Thanks buddy!

Stone Mountain is HUGE. Calling it a park is a little misleading. We have spent about 13 hours there in total and still haven't seen it all. I found the lake with the kids and we had a blast just throwing rocks and sticks and talking to the ducks. Right as I went to snap the pic, she put it in her mouth. Nice.

At the playground. Notice below how Emery is too busying gabbing to take the picture!?

Thank you Gigi for helping us find this place and for our season passes!!! You have no idea how much fun this has brought us already! This was on the train ride.

She found the perfect pumpkin and was trying to pick it up!

Beyond Thankful

2011-10-16T21:07:00.006-05:00

Yet another self-portrait from Sadie. Is she not a hoot? Oh girl...you crack me up! She has quickly taken to what it means to be a 3 year old. At the park today after getting a talkin to she told me in full sassy tone, "I will not say yes ma'am!" Oh Lordy! She is 98% pumpkin and only 2% pistol ;o) This princess is having a hard time putting on any weight, she is in the 92% for height and the 40% for weight which puts her BMI at a 1. We are going to go back in to weigh in a month to make sure she is gaining. Lil Miss is catching on to what she hears! She is talking SO much...more like she just repeats everything she hears. And it's hilarious and so hard not to completely crack up! Today when I was buckling her into her carseat she said, "Mama stop it!" What? Did my 15 month old just put 3 words together. Watch out guys...she's a talker! She is in the 94% for height and the 28% for weight! Mercy my girls are gonna be tall and skinny! So.jealous. Ok...I LOVE this picture. This is Owen's REAL smile. Like the one in which his heart is HAPPY and that happiness oozes out. I love this guy. We have all had a hard time moving so much lately, but I think it's affected my big guy most and it kills me. He's been such a trooper. This particular day we were given 4 tickets to the Georgia Tech game, so I got to take all 3 big kids! What a blast we had!

Can you tell how excited they are?

Lands! Look at Cooper's face! We even got to ride the train to the stadium.

Sadie's first football game! She loved seeing the cheerleaders and clapping for the team. It was a gorgeous day to be outside walking around and watching football.

God is soo good! Everyone that sat around us was so friendly and no one used foul language or made out in front of the kids. And Coooper was quick to point out all the brown people sitting around us ;o) Man I love how comfortable he is with talking about skin color and his emotions about it.

Of course we had to get some treats. Owen didn't want in the picture so he took one for us!

And can you imagine that I got lots of compliments on my adorable kiddos!?!? It was sooo much fun getting to do such a big treat with the kids.

Emery stayed at home with a sitter and did wonderful! We came home and she got new puffs! We actually used a teacher from Cooper's school who offered to watch the kids and she does hair and braids too! Can you believe how wonderful our God is to give us someone we can trust who the kids adore? Sadie reading stories to us.

Just everyday...

2011-10-06T19:41:00.008-05:00

My sweetie. He looks so old with his new frohawk. I love it. He loves it. His friends want one. Whoops. Sorry new mommy friends. That was no way for me to make friends, huh?

At the park enjoying some of mommy's homemade cookies. It's one of the few things I still bake!

In case you haven't figured it out...we don't do anything real big in a day.

SO I just wanted to share our everyday moments that make me take a deep breath and take it all in. Look at our sweet baby...loving on her baby. She is SO affectionate. It's precious to watch! A couple times this week it wasn't enough for me to hold her on my hip...she wanted me to full frontal hold her. Then she just pats my back.

She loves holding the raisin box, but barely gets any in her mouth...she just likes taking them out and putting them back in.

I got this idea from another mama with a chocolate baby a little older than Emme. This keeps from having to repoof the bottom two puffs if you do 4 puffs. Less manipulation = better hair! It's amazing how much better the condition of her hair is! Luckily Sadie still likes me taking her pictures!

Hey girls! They really play well together, but Emery has quickly learned how to fight for herself when someone takes her toy!!

Look at Sadie's face! Priceless...can you just hear her squeal?

Emery wanted in this walker! How funny. Can you believe the toys people drop off at this park?

Our friend baby Cole...Sadie and Emery love him! His parents moved from Canada to do a year fellowship at Emory too!

My girls! They both love to slide.

Movie night and pizza! Blake has been traveling with the Falcons and Georgia Tech so we've had lots of down time at home. Since we don't do TV or screen play during the week, it's a big treat now! We even made sundaes at home instead of going out for it!

This was about 10 days ago when my parents were headed out to Ghana...they got home to OK today!!! Thank you Jesus for their safe return!

Hello October!!!

2011-10-03T11:59:00.006-05:00

Look how big we are getting!!! Emery is 15 months old!!!

Still only has 8 teeth, wears a size 5 shoe and this girl can run!!!

Sadie and Emery have so much fun together. Sadie wants "my baby" on her lap everytime she goes down the slide.

We spend everyday at this park. No lie. These are some of the boys new friends.

My sweety who rarely lets me take pictures...but look at that grin!!!

From our visit with my parents...couldn't remember if I shared this one! Too lazy to look back!

This is my favorite smile of hers!!! She was getting ready to see the pediatrician.

She LOVES the swing...and is a bit of a swing hog.

Oh heavens...how adorable is he??? I love when he flips his collar up!

Needless to say, we are LOVING the cooler temps. Love you all and miss you soooo much!

So proud...

2011-09-28T08:43:00.005-05:00

Most of the time I use this blog for the 6 of us, but today I gotta talk about these 2!

I am so proud of my parents and how they are following God as He has called them to share Celebrate Recovery in Ghana. This ministry has changed and affected our whole family. My parents have been leading CR for almost 10 years...to say I am proud is an understatement.

SO today, they are in Africa waiting to share this ministry with a hurting country!!! We are praying for you guys! If you want to follow closer check out their blog!

Yesterday, as they were heading to Ghana, their flight just happened to have a layover in ATLANTA!! Thank you Jesus...you knew I needed to see them!!!

Trucking Along

2011-09-22T19:09:00.005-05:00

So, we are into a good routine with school and we are just trucking along. Blake is loving his job and boy does that make this all that much more enjoyable! He is here for breakfast almost every morning which is a HUGE change for us. What a wonderful blessing!!! He's home everyday before dinner, except on the rare occasion. He's traveling a bit with the football teams, but it's a total dream...so we are all excited for him. And I am only a wee bit jealous that he gets his own hotel room when he's gone! He is being spoiled and he deserves it!

We have been able to visit the zoo and aquarium lots and of course enjoy daily (sometimes multiple times a day) to the park. The weather has been so nice (70-low 80's) this week so we've stayed outside as much as we can. I have given into my new wardrobe of workout clothes. I am constantly chasing, walking, pushing strollers, loading and unloading the car...and in a fine layer of sweat beads. Welcome ponytail and tank tops. Clinton and Stacey would eat me alive.

I feel like we are adjusting pretty well. The boys have made lots of new friends and Sadie is LOVING her ballet classes every week. Our pediatrician is wonderful, and the environment is a dream (although the wait for appointments is AWFUL). But I figure, its only a year and I really enjoy the fact that every time I have been to the office I have been the only white person in the whole office.

The boys miss things back in Oklahoma, mostly the relationships. Sadie does not at all get it. She keeps telling me she wants to go home or when she talks with someone from our family she tells them to come home now. Sniff sniff.

My camera broke a couple weeks ago. I took it in to get fixed. Got it back, still doesn't work! Grrr...so these are old pictures from about a month ago...but really cute ones!!! ENJOY!

Peek-a-boo Baby!

My all time favorite face of hers!!!!

oh and this one...darn that it's fuzzy!

Owen's action shot. This is how he posed for me. Such a boy!!!

My dare devil. How have we not had stitches or broken bones???

What a fun pool!

Someone is THREE!!!!

2011-09-16T19:48:00.000-05:00

How in the world is this possible? I feel like it was yesterday I got the phone call, "Molly. This is Sandy. What are you doing?" Awww shucks. Nothing. It's just that when YOU call I can't breathe. Whatcha callin' bout Ms. Sandy? "Well. You've been picked. The baby is a girl. She is already here. She was born yesterday. Can you be at the hospital in 3 hours?" AHHHHHHH!!!!!!Then I blinked twice and she was 6 months old and slowly developing into this bubbling little laughy girl we call Sadie Cakes. I blinked again and we were bringing another little sister home. So I guess it only makes sense 3 years have passed. Whew. Please slow down lil bit. I wanna take this all in! Our Sadie turned 3 a couple of weeks ago. My heart was sad in having yet another birthday and not really having family or friends to celebrate it with. Lo and behold my parents were struggling too and surprised us by driving to Atlanta ON SADIE'S BIRTHDAY!!!!! Talk about awesome!!!

They took us out to dinner to celebrate and entertained us all weekend long. It was just what my soul needed. Oh how I was missing them desperately!

Happy birthday sweet girl! You quickly figured out that 3 came with a little extra sass, but I have learned to just roll with the punches...3 is a tricky year for us all. You are so kind and gentle. You remind me so much of your Aunt Laura. When we get onto you or raise our voice, you crumble in knowing we are dissappointed. You are pretty fearless and you can hold your own among your brothers and their buddies. You hardly weigh 30 lbs. You are FAST! You are not a picky eater, but you just don't consume much at all...well unless it's chocolate. You are independent. You are still very loud, but you've noticed your baby sister screams and that it hurts your ears so I am hoping you are catching on ;o) You are such a good helper with Emery and to me! You love talking to Jesus and it's precious to me to get to be a part of those intimate moments with you. Sometimes I don't know what you are saying, but I love knowing that Jesus knows.

You love having your picture taken, and you love to take pictures. You like to talk on the phone and you love to shop. It's so helpful because the boys HATE to run any errands, so it's nice that you'll help me get stuff done while they are at school! (Below are the dolphins at the aquarium)

You love to sing and dance. Your ballet class is a highlight of your week, but so is everything else. You just live life with gusto girl. Joy simply flows from you. And it rubs off onto everyone that meets you. You're kinda like me in that you've never met a stranger (I know...I need to be better at "stranger danger") and you say "Hello" to everyone as we walk to school in the morning.

So thank you pumpkin for these 3 incredible years. You are more than your daddy and I could've ever dreamed of.

Thank you for sharing my love of brownies!

At the aquarium on Labor day! We had so much fun showing Noonie around (Papa was under the weather...poor guy. We wore him out!) I told my parents that coming to stay with us is like going to Vegas. 3 days is plenty and you're on overload!

Look at my babies!!! We ate at a place here called Mary Mac's. It was super yummy, but sadly the kids didn't know what to do with all of the butter and deep fried food. Oh what memories we made there!

Baby girl, we adore you! Thank you for bringing so much sunshine into our family! Happy Birthday!!!

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

2011-09-14T12:38:00.003-05:00

We love this book. It's so fun to read. Right now I feel like we are living this book. "Oh-oh. There's a river. We can't go over it. We can't go under it. We gotta go through it."

Not that I am not enjoying this year long venture. I am. But mostly because I am choosing to do so. It ain't comin' naturally ;o) I am having to eat my words and do what I tell the kids to all the time, "Choose your attitude."

There have been several things that have popped up that we are just bearing down and getting through. But there have also been lots of blessings along the way. Like these sweet pictures that capture our fun at the pool a couple of weeks ago. I've got more, but I gotta run. Just wanted to say, "HI" and we are still alive. Just crazy busy!

Be back soon!

This guy...

2011-09-01T18:46:00.006-05:00

Man, I feel like I hardly ever get to do a post just about one of the boys...unless it's their birthday.

I've really enjoyed my down time with this fella. So he goes to pre-k for 3.5 hours in the morning. We pick him up just before lunch and I bring the girls home (feed them earlier at 11:15) and put them down for naps. It gives Cooper and I about an hour and a half together JUST BY OURSELVES everyday.

This one, like my other 3, is amazing. He's focused, passionate, independent, athletic is an understatement, shy, smart, lover of all things boy (someone told him pink wasn't cool for dudes...pffft...he says its disgusting now), committed wii-gamer, a wee bit dramatic, handsome as all get out, currently hates his curls (sniff), and he wants to be a builder when he grows up! He is still obsessed with Emery Faith and I have to tell him multiple times a day that she needs space. Don't you worry, she can scream him off now too. He is totally annoyed with his Sadie Cakes at the time being, that is unless he's scared at night and doesn't want to sleep alone...then she's his best friend.

Cooper has always had a deep emotional and spiritual side...he still often talks about Jesus and the resurrection, and we have lots of deep conversations about asking Jesus into our hearts and being able to listen to God with our heart. He loves bugs, worms, spiders, moths, bees (except their webs which completely wig him out), sticks, pine cones, acorns...he could live outdoors. He would LOVE it if I could have some sort of random catch all tank that he could bring all his creatures inside. His new obsession this past year is Star Wars. He dreamt the other night about being Hans Solo and having a whistle???

He is a good eater, but never eats if he isn't hungry...not even dessert or treats! He certainly didn't get that from me ;o) but what a great habit, huh? He will try just about any food and has a great variety of foods he will eat. He's probably our most balanced healthiest eater. Ahhh, thank you Cooper for not causing food drama! At school they have snacks mid-morning. One day I asked about snack and he said it was gross, but he tried it. He described it as cheese-sauce. Huh. That's odd. They ate it with a spoon. It happened a couple more times and he finally said it was cheese grits! Ha! Our first southern food that we don't eat and he happens to be the only brown kid in class and he's NOT eating grits!

We have been trying something new these last few weeks and it's been fun for our time alone. We don't do TV or video games (iphone, wii, leapster) during the week. Gasp. I know. I never thought we'd do that, but it's made all the difference in our kids attitudes. Yes, we do have attitude problems. Not that we all of the sudden have happy little tots. But it's made a big difference in our ability to fend off tantrums and meltdowns in the afternoon. Since we don't do that anymore, it creates a lot more time to talk, read, build legos, race cars and color.

Yet another blessing of this year with having Owen in kindergarten all day...I get some precious alone time with my #2!!!

In This House...

2011-08-30T18:25:00.004-05:00

Lately, I've been begging God more than usual to break me, use me, hold my tongue, fill me with patience and energy, understanding and compassion.

We've had more than enough transitions to drive anyone to the brink of insanity. It's taken a toll on our sweet children. Mercy, that's hard to swallow as a parent. My heart breaks as they cry for things to return to normal.

Sadie literally screamed and cried to go see her Papa Max when she was looking through a picture book and saw Camp Noonie-Papa pics. She just kept saying, "I'na see my PAPA!!!" And "Go right dare mommy, turn dare" while pointing to their driveway in the picture. It killed me, and she simply can't understand.

I know they will be fine. I know they are young and resilient. But it's still hard to watch your child go through this. And this time is a journey that I know can draw me closer to Jesus, and I pray that our children see that in us.

People ask me daily how I keep up with all 4 (as if it hasn't been done before?) and I usually laugh and say, "Jesus and coffee make me a good mommy!" I need a sign that says that, huh? And then I saw this...

Crazyness!

2011-08-29T08:53:00.005-05:00

My goodness. It's unreal how busy things are when you have kids in school. I know. I know. You all warned me. I can hear my sisters snickering in love. Yep. You told me so.

I wanna blog about so many things. But I just can't. I gotta love on my babies and keep this place picked up. I would say clean, but I am just being honest here ;o)

Blake and I celebrated our date-aversary on Friday! We have officially been in love more than half our lives! How blessed are we that we started dating when we were hardly 16!

These pictures are from our play date with the Gerdes family last weekend. We had SO much fun and I can say this relationship was totally a God thing...Lindsey and I met first on the world wide web. Crazy, huh? I know. We are bloggy friends. It's an amazing story about how a mom from south Texas and one from Oklahoma both ended up in Atlanta sharing a passion for adoption! See, God uses the Internet, blogs and facebook to show us His love! We had SUCH a blast together and it was just what my heart needed as I've been missing my girlies back home!

My guys are totally obsessed with her son Jackson! The kids had so much fun playing at chik-fil-a...aren't these pictures funny? I am sure Chik-fil-a was glad to see us leave!

Snapshots

2011-08-25T19:47:00.007-05:00

There are so many snapshots in my mind that I think, "I wish Danny could see her." I truly believe that our children's birth parents will forever be a huge part of our lives, regardless of how often we see them...they are always on our mind and in our hearts. And we are missing them so much while we are away.

Last night I was putting this punkin to bed and just had to take a pic for her birth parents. She LOVES her blankies and paci. And don't you worry, she'll ditch that sleep cap as soon as I walk out of her room!

Emery's twists. I think this is day 2, but I can't remember. I love how Sadie and Emme interact nowadays. They are so fun to watch. (side note: Emme's twists lasted 5 days and Sadie's 8! They were fuzzilicious, but I was so excited how long they stayed in! We are embracing the fuzz, but also want to make sure our hair looks "fancy" as Owen calls it! The boys loved the twists)

Do you see right between those two sections where her hair is growing back? Hee hee
Another lil glimpse of everyday life I want to share with our first families. This is our daily stop...the park. This park happens to be smack dab in the middle of Owen's and Cooper's schools. There are tennis courts, covered picnic tables, big shade trees, and CLEAN potties! And evidently everyone in this small community brings their yard toys here instead of tossing them. It's awesome because we couldn't bring any of this stuff with us from Oklahoma!There are scooters, push toys, kitchens, ride on toys, play lawn mowers, bikes and new stuff appears every week. What a fun idea!

We have almost an hour every morning to play here before Coop's school starts. Aren't we blessed??? Today we had 2 play dates here, so the girls and I were at this park for about 4.5 hours playing here today. I smell like a 4th grader!

They love the sandbox the most!

Awww. Makes me so proud. Sisterly love! Poor baby girl!

"MOM!!!"

2011-08-22T14:19:00.003-05:00

At least once a day, but typically several times a day I hear, "Boy do you have your hands full."

The only reason I get annoyed is because of the tone in which MOST people say it. It sounds as if my children are some kind of burden to me. I realize that might not be one's intention when saying it...but I just think we need to be careful the things we say repeatedly in front of our kids...

Anywho, my usual response is a smile and, "I am really blessed, huh?" or "We prayed forever for these guys!" or "Aren't I the luckiest mom on earth?" But what I heard this afternoon made me giggle at all those times I've heard that statement.

I was helping Owen with homework after school today and heard this from Sadie who unbeknownst to me was in the bathroom, "MOM!!! Baby's playin my poop!" OH glory. Please say it's not so.

I ran into the bathroom and there she was, sure enough...hands in the potty splashin away.

I am so bummed this last pic came out fuzzy. Emery is a hoot with her expressions. This is her silly face and she knows it totally cracks us up!

So in case anyone is wondering today...4 is perfect for us! Our quiver is full. Our cup runneth over. Happy as clams.

"Don't you see that children are God's best gift? The fruit of the womb his generous legacy? Like a warrior's fistful of arrows are the children of a vigorous youth. Oh, how blessed are you parents, with your quivers full of children! Your enemies don't stand a chance against you; you'll sweep them right off your doorstep." Psalm 127:5

I pray that our children always feel that they bless us daily, even when they are covered in poop!

More hair fun!

2011-08-19T20:00:00.006-05:00

By Thursday of this week our hair was in desperate need of some change. I am realizing now (I know, I should've caught on earlier) why protective styles are necessary. So I've been giving myself pep talks and gearing up for some different styles.

Now. I am not posting these pics to brag on what I've done. Because you will see that I'm not too talented here, BUT if I don't post these I won't remember where I came from. I also have to say that this was not easy for me. One row into Sadie's hair and I was sweating and talking myself out of cornrows, wanting to take it down.

Part of my job as their mommy is to learn, be patient with myself and enjoy taking care of their hair. So, here I am in the beginning. Most white people will think these are fabulous, but anyone with chocolate curls can see from a block away that I don't quite have this down. That's OK...we gotta start somewhere...and I just pray that they are young enough that I am not scarring them from embarrassment. I want them to love their hair and feel good about how we fix it.

I did two sections attempting cornrows and just couldn't swing it. Sadie's hair is just not long enough and her curl pattern is tighter than Emery's. So I moved to double rope flat twists...I felt safer there! It made me feel better when a brown mama from Owen's school whom we've come to know told me this day to keep doing twists on her for now until her hair grew out. Phew. It's not just me.

From start to finish this took me an hour. She did really well, but about 30 minutes in needed a stretch break. I think we'll start saving TV and movies for hair time. She was totally loving Sesame Street while I did this.

A couple days ago I shared that I finally did my first cornrow. I've been trying and practicing a while on Sadie, but could never do it. I finally decided to try a small section on Emme. Again, not great...but I did it!!! It's holding up OK after a couple of days, but more than anything it's going to be amazing how much of a difference it makes to not manipulate her hair so much. I also put some satin scarves in the girls car seats finally since we're in the car more lately! Every little thing should make a difference.

Awww!!! My sweet Emery with her flirty gappy toothed smile.

She is so much fun!

After a couple of days, they are getting fuzzy but I think we can go another day before fixing them for church Sunday!

Sadie afterwards! I also have to brag, she has been wearing undies for 10 days. Lots of accidents, but huge progress! She'll be 3 in 2 weeks so its about time!

Happy 6th Birthday Owen!

2011-08-18T19:53:00.006-05:00

Oh my word...I miss these days when he used to snuggle me so! Not that I don't enjoy the toots and belly laughs of my now 6 year old though! Oh my gosh...look at him. Such a heart breaker already, huh?

This is one of my all time favorite pictures. I love how real those smiles are. These two could not be more alike. I know I have said it before, but it's almost weird how much they are like each other.

And now he is 6! How did that happen?
Our precious families had sent packages with his wrapped gifts last week. So when he woke up (at 6 am!) he had a table full of gifts and balloons. He gave some to Cooper and Sadie to open...he is sooo sweet.

I love my "job"! I got to take cupcakes to school today for Owen's class. It was so much fun to get to see the kids that he talks about all the time "his very best friend ever". His friends were so sweet. Several of them told me they wanted to come to our party too! Ha...whoops. We already had the party kids.

At 7:15 this morning on our walk to school. Poor Emery always gets plucked straight out of bed to walk with us. She is always so chipper about it though.

Owen, buddy. You're heart is gold. You live life with a sensitive old soul yet the energy of a spider monkey. When you get excited, you can hardly contain yourself...and you don't. You bounce off the furniture and let our your voice box rattle. That reminds me of myself. I often joke we need to build a house with foam floors and mattress covered walls and you'd be in heaven. YOU ARE ALL BOY. Until you dawn your sisters' dress up clothes and that's just about the funniest thing ever. You'll kill me one day for sharing that. But at least I don't have pictures!

It's so fun to watch you grow up into a young man and experience life with you. What an honor to be your mom. I pray that you see and feel the love of Jesus through your daddy and I. In this last month I have so felt a huge gap between the mom I want to be for you, and that which I am. I have so many moments when I feel I am letting you down. Then I remember that the best mommy I can be for you, is only when I let God stretch his arms across that gap of my deficiencies. Thank you Jesus for using me just as I am. Happy birthday pumpkin!!!

THE BEACH

2011-08-15T17:27:00.015-05:00

Oh, my dream come true!

Blake unexpectedly got the day off on Sunday. And like any good church-going-Jesus-lovin' girl, I immediately start scheming how we can sneak off early and head to the beach. E-hem.

Bless my Lovey's heart. He had a big weekend. He worked the Falcons game on Friday night, got home at 12:30 am. Got up and worked the Georgia Tech practice Saturday morning, came home and picked up the boys and took them to the PGA championship. Then I start bugging him about the beach. Dadgum.

Like any smart man, he obliged knowing that this might be our only chance til next spring that we could do this. So we headed out at 7:30 and got to Savannah right at 11:30, and to the beach at noon!

This town was just as I always heard it was and I was the goofy Oklahoman taking pictures out the window.
Seriously...we were SO excited to get in the water!!! The kids did great on the drive.

We were there for 3 hours and they loved every minute. It was non-stop running, jumping, squealing, splashing, digging, hunting, building and swimming. The only tear shed the whole time was when we would have to pull Emme out of the water. She thinks she's a fish. ;o) That's a miracle for our crew. It.was.magical.

Cooper hunting for shells.

Our little fishy. She was seriously the hardest one to watch because she wanted to jump into the waves just like the big kids.

I took 150+ pictures in 3 hours! 99% of them have Sadie sporting a huge grin.

Building together...

Stopping for a little snack.

I told him I needed more pictures of him. He said, "this will work" and just stayed like this.

Showing me another shell

Sadie wanted to go in to jump into the waves. I was surprised how much she loved the waves.

We went to Tybee Island, which is actually the closest beach to get to from Atlanta. It was totally a shot in the dark because we just googled it. For all we knew, we could've shown up to a beach full of rocks. Thank you Jesus that it was just what we were looking for!

Can you imagine how much sand we brought home?

Pretty sure she's trying it out.

We were there for about 5 minutes and saw 5 dolphins. The boys saw them, but Sadie was totally unimpressed. Do you see them?

I love this picture because it has all 4 kids, and look at one of the boys as they get into the ocean. Too cool! Priceless.

Owen first time in the ocean!

Sadie first checking things outAnd in perfect timing, a storm came in and cleared the beach. We had wanted to head home around 3:30 and had no clue how to break it to the kids. The thunder and lightening did the trick! And it was beautiful to watch, hear, smell and feel it coming in!

It started pouring when we were about 50 feet from the car! Nice way to get some sand off!

Hair post

2011-08-13T19:35:00.007-05:00

So we've finally gotten into a routine of doing hair Saturday at some point so that it's fixed for church on Sunday. The girls hair does not last a week, but we are getting closer to 4 days. That's a huge help not to have to do hair everyday, rather just moisturize it in the mornings and add some clips or barrettes.

Emery's hair is just gorgeous with nice curl pattern up top. She has tons of hair. At the nape of her neck it's more brittle and there is hardly ever a noticeable curl. I've been working with different products and trying to be more diligent about coconut oil and deep conditioner and her sleep cap (she hates the thing). I am praying that over the years as she gets older and naps less, the hair will be healthier. Our biggest hang-ups with her hair right now are: she's young and can't sit long and the short spots in her hair where Sadie gave her a trim months ago.

That's right. I don't think I ever blogged about it, but Sadie took kid scissors to her sisters head late May as I was cleaning our house for a showing. I was devastated. For lots of reasons. Blake finally convinced me that I was being prideful and he was right. I spend lots of time learning and practicing and taking care of the kids hair. So I take lots of pride in how it looks. And I want them to be proud of their hair too. This cut me deep. I felt like I hadn't protected Emme from this occurring. Blake reminded me that Emery would not remember this, nor be scarred by it.

So, all of this to say, it's caused some issues with sectioning her hair and putting it in protective styles. Anything but an Afro and you can see where there are chunks of short hair. At least Emme can rock an Afro, but this doesn't help the need to protect her hair and keep it growing well.

Sadie's hair is growing, slowly but surely. I feel like it's filling in better than it's gaining length. But that may just be because her curl pattern is so tight. She has gorgeous defined curls throughout. I am struggling to detangle using a 4 step process (finger detangle, wide tooth comb, fine tooth comb, then Tangle Teezer). I have to be honest; I mostly go straight to the TT. The girl just can't sit through 4 steps in the bath...she likes to swim in the bath and that doesn't work well when I am detangling! Am I the only one who goes straight to the TT brush?

I have sure enjoyed the flat twists, mostly because they don't take a ton of time to do 4 or 5 rows of them and I can't practice cornrows or braids on Sadie's head yet. The hair on her hairline is just still to short and thin. If I could start a row in the middle of her head it would look fantastic! HA! Here she is sporting a flat double rope twist along her hairline. I think it's adorable!

My sweet husband asked a nurse that he works with about a hairdresser she would recommend. Ah, I love that man. I love that he got all kinds of advice from her while they were chatting it up in the OR. I can't wait to take them in and start learning some new things.

We love the Georgia Aquarium

2011-08-12T14:21:00.006-05:00

I could sit in this room all day! It's amazing.

Oh how I love this man...this is why we can't just sit and stay in this room all day. The kids are ready to move on to the next thing as soon as we sit down. Blake's smile is saying, "Why are you taking a pic babe? Help me with the kids. We are missing one!!!"

The shark tank is so cool!

I love it when she lets me hold her!

Daddy and Emme checking out the stingrays. Let's be honest, I don't really know what they are.

Oh Cooper. You make me LAUGH! He thought this area smelled!

This isn't a great picture of Sadie, but it so captures her personality. She is constantly singing and entertaining and she isn't particularly lady-like.

Thank you bubba! He only takes pictures when I tell him its for our friends and family back home ;o)

What a difference a day makes!

2011-08-10T20:06:00.006-05:00

After Monday I was exhausted. It took all I had to get things ready for Tuesday. But I am glad to report that Tuesday was MUCH better for Owen when we said good-bye!

Tuesday was a bit of a hectic day just getting into the new routine, trying to figure out naps between drop-offs and pick-ups, feeding everyone and preparing for dinner. For Owen's pick-up alone we were in the car for an hour. His school is less than a mile from our house. Not.gonna.cut.it.

I've wanted to get Sadie into dance classes since she is not going to school here. I couldn't find anything online that was open to her age group that wasn't a mommy and me class. When Gigi was here we saw that Cooper's school has additional classes for computer, dance, tumbling, etc. So I just asked if Sadie could come to dance even though she wasn't enrolled in school. They said yes, and ballet/tap started today!!!!

We ran to Payless yesterday and found both tap and ballet shoes in her size! Thank you Jesus.

Is she not the cutest thing EVER? She has such a ballerina body! Look at those calves! Oh my goodness, I am so excited for her!

Here she is just before class. She had to go potty! YAY Sadie!
Then I asked her if she could smile for her grandmas. This was her response above... During this pic Emery snuck out of the bathroom and ran into Cooper's class before I could snag her. She sure does lub her big bubba.

I had to include this. Emery has started covering her ears when we get kinda crazy loud. When I got the camera out she took one hand down. It cracks us up. This lil miss has personality!! She has even started giving us a hairy eyeball look when we tell her "no ma'am". We try so hard to hide our giggles when she does this. Sadie's dance teacher. Her teacher told me that she was quiet and shy. HA! Watch out Ms. Zandie...she's gonna knock your socks off!

This is Sadie telling me she wants to go back to dance. I am so glad she had fun!

First Day Jitters

2011-08-08T17:56:00.010-05:00

We had our first day of school today. And let me say it's ridiculous to wake kids at 6:30 to be at school at 7:20. That just seems nuts when you are 5,4,2 and 1.

But the kids got up easily and ate rather well despite the darkness. I was amazed at how quickly our routine went and that we were actually early to school. We walked Owen to school and it was SO nice out. As we started to say our goodbyes after snapping a few pics my lil buddy started having a hard time. I was a little caught off guard because he did so well last year, and although this was a new school, he didn't know a soul at the start of last year either. We talked a bit, hugged a lot, said a quick prayer, tried distractions...I was panicking. What do I do?

In everything I've read, people say don't hang around and drag it out. Make it a quick good-bye. I tried to scooch out the door (easier said than done when you have 3 others toddling with you). He followed us out the door 3 times. Talk about rip your heart out. He was begging me not to leave him. Oh lands. I thought I would be stronger than this. It was so hard, but I kept from crying in front of him. I was wracking my brain for how to help him. Take it one day at a time, buddy. You can do this. I will be back just after recess. We can do something fun as a treat. Nothing. Big fat tears. I felt like a huge failure.

I watched him finally enter and sit next to his peers on the carpet and wipe his eyes. He was so embarrassed. I let my guard down and totally couldn't stop crying. Another parent said, "Did he not do pre-k?" I explained that we just moved to town, but yes, we had. Now I have to clear the seemingly longer hallway pushing a double stroller and try to hide my ugly cry. You can do this Molly. It was like the walk of shame. I was that mom. I didn't really care. If my child says those things, I'd have been stone cold to not be emotional with him. I couldn't get that sweet face and those words out of my head.

I strolled to the park with Coop, Sadie and Emery. Thank God they all played like nothing had happened. I was numb. I couldn't stop those tears from sneaking up. By 8:10 I had quit crying enough to load them up for Cooper's drop off. Lord, please let this be easier or I am packing this gang up and heading west. Cooper acted like it was no big deal. His sweet teacher took one look at my puffy eyes and said, "Arya okay?" in her sweet Gawja accent. Uh-oh. Here they come again. Cooper was now embarrassed of me. I apologized, explained and quickly departed after some pics and snotty kisses from this kooky mom. I am a nut.

I run some errands with the girls. Let Emme nap. Distract ourselves for a few hours then start the pick-up routine. Cooper did fabulous and had a great time. He has 12 in his class at a small private church pre-k program. Then we eventually walk to pick up Owen. Randomly, and because I will talk to anyone...I was making conversation with another set of parents. Their child was also in Kindergarten. So I told them mine was in Mrs. Scott's class to which they said, "Oh, is she back?" What? Well, yes. I must've seemed confused. They questioned more, and I answered more. Come to find out, Owen's teacher is actually out on maternity leave. No one told us this! No lie. We came on "Meet Your Teacher Day" and assume the lady in his room is his teacher. She had no badge which I thought was weird. She never introduced herself and was a little cold for a kindergarten teacher. But my MIL and I tried not to be judgemental. Oh my lands. I am a bit peeved. Who was gonna inform us of this? Aren't I the idiot. Deep breath. It's not a big deal.

Owen's picture with his teacher...or is it? She isn't. If you take a magnified look at that ole name tag therr. This is Eileen or something. Dadgum.

At pick up. I was so relieved to see his sweet smile. Seriously...a huge weight lifted.

Tonight at bedtime Owen picked "Owen's Walk". Whoa. Was that ever appropriate. It's a great read about always walking with our Savior that is explored through the eyes of a little boy on a hike. It shares, "My God is my rock. I can run to Him for safety. He is my shield and my saving strength, my high tower." Psalm 18:2 And, "Listen my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path." Isaiah 41:10 Then, "Don't be afraid. The Lord your God will be with you everywhere you go." Joshua 1:9

So thank you to all of you the prayed for us today. Today I couldn't be more thankful for my faith. So many people reminding me that even though we are removed from all that is familiar to us, we still have the Shockley 6 and our Savior who never changes.

"Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him!" -Psalm 37:5

Picture Post

2011-08-07T17:48:00.000-05:00

These are random and in no particular order but that which they were downloaded...dinner with the adults in my family for my birthday!!! This was early July.

The night before we headed to ATL. The bigger cousins got sad when saying good-bye. It's awful hard on us adults to see the kids have such a hard time leaving each other. Notice Sadie is still at the clueless age.

The last few hours of our 15 hour haul to Atlanta got a little rough for one girl in particular. So we all unloaded to bribe them with some candy. Now that's parenting at it's finest.

I don't want to name names, but the screamer might happen to be the cutest darn thing ever...

My honey!!! This was the same night we went out with my family for my birthday.

Saying good-bye to more family. This is Blake's grandpa Pops and his cousins Jessica and Nathan. We're gonna miss you all soooo bad!

Darn flash in the mirror. Grrr

Emery is now blowing kisses, waving hello and good-bye, saying "mine", Owie, mom, dada, no, do it, bubba, Noonie, Gigi and Papa. She climbs on everything, loves peek-a-boo, playing chase
and putting her feet on the table. She loves the water and swimming, computers, phones and especially her pacifier and blankie. She is in the 26% in weight and 75% for height...just like her big sister. At 13 months she finally hit the 20 lbs mark! She has 7 teeth and is a drool factory ;o)

We love playing with our Savannah girl. And boy does she love Emery and Sadie. She would keep Emery close to her by leg locking her...it was hilarious! Do you like our new sleep caps? They are so stinking cute on the girls. Emery still can't quit tugging hers off within seconds of me putting her in her crib to sleep.

This was what the boys did while the girls wore the slip n slide out! Too funny! They said they were hot. July was brutal in Oklahoma.

Emery wanted so badly to play with the big girls. So we let her.

She needed a little drink...and then she got really brave and walked briskly down until she slid. I just happened to catch her landing on camera.

Below are some of the pics from my camera of the kids swim party before we left.

The Proctor boys sure are good to my kids! And Cindy and Ford! What a cute pic of you two!!! Thanks for coming by to see us off!

Just in the off chance that anyone from Atlanta is reading this...can you recommend an affordable hairdresser for the girls? For any of you that know me well, you know I have never paid anyone to cut the kids hair. I do hair in this family, even Blake's. Sadie has only needed one trim, bless her heart. And I did that. But at this point both the girls need an actual cut and I just think it's best if I don't do that. I am willing to learn, but I don't want to mess their hair up.

OH my

2011-08-06T19:42:00.002-05:00

Wow. I feel like a million things have happened in only 3 weeks.

We've had a lot of giggles and a couple really awkward moments.

Here is a run down.

Nanny at the park asked me how all my kids were different shades. I do my best to just ignore such silly remarks. But then continued on with "they must all have different dads". Really lady. Really?

Dude at the pool when I strolled in with my 4. "That's interesting." To which 8 people turned our direction to look us over. Needless to say, we didn't stay long.

Lady from Louisiana at the aquarium asks my MIL in a southern drawl, "So are y'all babysittin?" To which our Gigi replied, "Nope. They're ours."

Went to pick up Emme from nursery and they couldn't find her. At what point should I tell new people that my child is chocolate? They were searching for a peach Emery. I kept describing her dress and giving them her number, and looking for her from the door. Phew. She was easily found when I mentioned she was black.

A little girl in the sandbox told her grandma that Emery was lost (she was about 15 feet from me in the sand). Her grandma nicely explained that I was her mommy.

Found a new church that we loved! It's really diverse and a straight shot from our apartment (nothing is a straight shot here).

Met our teachers at school and found our new classes. I haven't broken the news to Owen that he has to wear a uniform. The dude does not enjoy "church clothes" as he calls them.

Our new neighbors baked the kids cupcakes to welcome us! They were gone in 6 seconds flat.

We found a new pediatrician! We are so thankful and we love her already. She did her residency at OU, small world! It's pretty fabulous to have an AA doctor. She was recommending things for Emme's slightly dry skin that I never would've tried. AND they sell hair care products at their office. We hit the jackpot!

I drove on the highway all by myself to get to the pediatrician. Big accomplishment. I have only filled up the car once (1/2 tank) in 3 weeks. It's nuts here people! This mama isn't driving alone unless I have to.

While on the phone with peds office to register kids I was asked what race Cooper was. I told them he was biracial, both Caucasian and AA. She told me she could only enter one race and that she would enter the primary insured, so what race was his father? Well, his father's white. She continued to register Emme, asked if the info was the same. I said all but race, she again told me that head of house would be entered. What? So since my husband's white we have to register my kids as white. What the? I explained. She didn't seem to care. Needless to say we got it straightened out in person ;o)

Gigi came and stayed for a week!!!! We had so much fun exploring new places around town. We also found ourselves scratching our heads when the GPS didn't know certain intersections existed. I might have headed down a street in the wrong direction. Yikes.

And my new camera charger came in today and is currently charging so I will have pics to post soon!!! I am too scerred to post pics from my iphone on here for fear of any weirdos out there that might try and find my kiddos.

For Reals?

2011-08-01T21:49:00.002-05:00

How in the world am I this blessed?

I mean come on! They are so stinking cute.

*side note*

My camera battery charger went missing in the move. And you know how many pictures I take of these sweeties. SO, I've ordered a new one and hope it's here before school starts next week! Grrr. Lots of pics to download on there!

Should NOT be blogging this today

2011-07-27T13:29:00.000-05:00

Gigi and Emery

Noonie and Grandy

I woke up this morning to some poopy news with Blake's job. We thought he had another couple days together before we didn't see him for 6 months, but they need him to come in Fri-Sunday (as well as Wed/Thurs). We had planned to surprise the kids with a quick trip to the beach Friday morning. They've never seen an ocean before. So I am a wee bit crabby, and for the first time since we got here I am feeling like Negative Nancy. I miss my friends and family soooo bad and now he's gone.

SO I am finally posting the pics from the kids' swim party before we left.

Seriously. What friends let you take pictures of them in their bathing suit 6 weeks after having a baby? But I couldn't NOT post this...she is such a dear friend. We met for one last coffee date before I left and she gave me a sign that says: "There are some people one loves instantly and forever, just to know they are in the world is quite enough." Is that not the sweetest quote? So I hope you forgive me for posting this pic, but we just don't have many pics together!!!

The sweet Satterfields! Boy, we are gonna miss you guys!

If I crop my butt outta this pic, I crop my sweet baby out too. Shoot. Love you Shettron crew!!

My neighbor Samantha!!! Thanks for the coffee and my new mug!!! I LOVE IT!

Awww! The Proctor family (minus their 2 adorable boys who were busy swimming with my lil men). Proctors, sometimes I get frustrated with God for the fact that we just met this past year. But when I think about how much I love you all, I know that knowing you longer would've only made this goodbye harder...if that's possible. We all tried not to cry, but we just couldn't help it. Look at Cailey covering her eyes...it makes my heart ache seeing this pic.

Samantha and Rachelle, more sweet neighbors! It's amazing how God brought us all together.

No way. Is my son really checking out their booties?

My mama. And to think when I was little I used to make fun of her big sunglasses! We looked like such goons saying goodbye to one another in front of the MARTA. We didn't care. It's hard leaving your mama no matter how old you are!

My sistas. Jamie brought her kiddos Jackson and Savannah "Bena" as Sadie calls her. And my sis Laura brought her littlest Luke, who Sadie is smitten with.

We had the party in the morning, so we had 10 dozen donut holes and a bunch of fruit for the kids. We only had 8 donut holes left over!!! Emme sure enjoyed some herself!!!

Keely Beth!!! Thank you for coming to swim with the kids. We sure do love you sweet girl!

Cailey and Chenna! Girls we miss you so much and hate the idea of starting school without you being there with us!

Looks like trouble to me! Nah. These guys sure do love their cousin Jackson!

My sweet Auntie Mary Anne! On my dad's bday (which is 2 days after mine) my parents had a lil party for my dad with the family. It was a good chance for me to get to squeeze everyone one last time.

Now, I realize that to most of you this probably seems absurd. Sorry, but it's just how I feel. I am a relationships kind of girl. To walk away from those dearest to me is beyond difficult. Even if for just a year. My peeps help me to be a better mom. And I take that job kind of seriously.

For lunch the kids and I used our new smoothie maker I got for my birthday. We had so much fun creating smoothies and even more fun when I took the lid off and proceeded to push the blend button. It went flyin and blobs clobbered my face and hair. We laughed so hard we all about tee teed right there in the kitchen. God knew how much I needed that!!!

I know I will just be fine, but I had to share these pictures while I was thinking about you all!

A Promise Is A Promise

2011-07-24T07:13:00.017-05:00

The LOVE of my life. Blake and I will have been together HALF of our lives this August! What an incredible blessing!!!!

MY BOYS!!!!

My stairstep dream!

Obviously, my kids are adorable!!! BUT look at these two work the camera?!?!

It helps that they ADORE the girl behind the lens!

This is Emery's flirty smile...it's so cute!!!

Nothing better than lovin' from daddy...

My supermodel

BabyCakes herself. Have I told you that we call her Chocolate? We have a book that we love called The Colors Of Us. Its a wonderful must read. Anyways, wherever we go here every brown person we see gasps and calls her chocolate. She just has the most beautiful skin and you wanna eat it!!!

All of these pictures were taken by Lesley Proctor photography! She is a mom in Edmond, OK and she does photography on the side. Thanks for letting me share these sweet friend!!!

We made it!!!

2011-07-23T20:02:00.007-05:00

These are just a few of the pictures that I talked about in our last post. Hope I am not reposting the same pictures??? (I totally did!!! GRRR! Spent an HOUR uploading the same dang pics!) We just got our Internet working FINALLY and it's SLOW! I can't post as many pics, so I will try and post more tomorrow!

We've been in Atlanta for a week now! We have been in awe of all of the wonderful blessings in this move. The drive was long (15 hrs in one day!) but uneventful. And the day that we got here the temp dropped to 77 degrees and we drove in with the windows down! Our POD got here on time, and we unloaded the entire thing in about 5 hours and barely broke a sweat!

My parents drove here with us, and we worked their tails off. They hardly saw the city, but spent lots of time loving on us by getting us settled. My mom unpacked our entire kitchen and played with the kids, while my dad and Blake unloaded all the big stuff. My dad did all those things that I hate doing in a move (he hung ALL our wall decorations, got the washer/dryer working, put the crib together, etc). The great thing is how much it filled my love tank right before saying good-bye, but it's amazing because now I think of them constantly when I see/use these things!

So some random things we've found so far:

There are more brown people here (yay!), but we still seem to stick out. Actually, we saw more inter-racial families in Oklahoma. I know, it's only been a week. I'll let ya know how my study goes ;o) You know I don't care if we stick out...it's just that I think the kids feel it.

Our first ride on the MARTA was crazy weird. It was a little scary. Okay, so at one point I thought we might die. A guy sitting across from Blake and the boys was listening to something and was talking LOUDLY almost shouting and making shooting noises and using his hands as guns. Luckily he was pointing those "guns" out the window. You should've seen Owen. Bless.his.heart. He was as scared as I was. So I distracted the kids with some scenic talk. Then a lady got on and tried to share Jesus with everyone riding. Mercy, she scared me and I believe the same dad-gum thing she was selling.

The Aquarium is AMAZING!!! But there were so many people there that we really couldn't see a lot. We plan to go back, but not on a Friday afternoon ;o) Babycakes wanted to get down and explore everything, but we just couldn't let her because it was so packed.

Our apartment is HUGE. Well. Not really. But it feels so good to have 2 full bathrooms, an oven, washer and dryer, a full sized refrigerator WITH an ice maker!!! OMGoodness!! We've never had an ice maker before! And the kids are running and jumping and you can't hear a thing!! I tell you what, God gave us that experience in Aspen so that we'd know what we had here. We are in heaven.

Thanks for all of your prayers! I will post more pics tomorrow!!

Birthdays and good-byes

2011-07-12T09:42:00.005-05:00

So this last weekend brought my birthday and a little early birthday gathering for the kids to say good-bye to some of our friends. Owen turns 6 just a few weeks after we get to Atlanta, then Sadie turns 3 two weeks after that. So we gathered some of our friends to squeeze their necks one last time before heading east. Oh...it's so hard for me to say good-bye!

Our precious friend Lesley Proctor took these pictures of our family FOR MY BIRTHDAY!! What a HUGE gift this is to a mama, huh? We had so much fun and she was kind enough to meet us early in the morning to avoid the HEAT of Oklahoma.

I love how they turned out and how you can see so much of the kids' personalities in them. They would such good sports taking these. The boys certainly DO NOT like having their pictures taken, so it made all the difference in the world to adore the one behind the camera (who just happened to bring her two boys with her to get smiles!).

I will post some pics from the pool party later. My mom took most of them with her camera.

Homeless and loving it!

2011-07-07T21:10:00.007-05:00

Oh my word!! We closed on our house last week, moved out the week before and have been living with our parents ever since. We are loving all of this sweet time with our families before we move. Thank you all for so much quality time. The kids doing fireworks (snapits) and they LOVED them. Owen was telling me he was making fire.

All 11 grandkids on my side of the family.

Sadie loves the pool!

Seriously. Look at my lil chocolate baby in pink!! Cannot get enough of her!

Look at those teef! This is one happy girl. And she loves the water too.

Sadie fell asleep while I was putting her twists and beads in. Sleeping beauty

Owen and Sutton at Emme's party.

For reals. Could my kids be anymore adorable? I know I am biased, but come on.

Sissy loves sweets!!!

And balloons! She was a hoot batting at this.

So a part of becoming homeless was packing our stuff in the POD for Atlanta which included us eating meals on the floor.

We've also loved some precious precious time with Emery's birthfather. I have TONS of pictures and what a treasure they are and will be for Emme as she grows. This is one of my favorites. Today we saw him for the last time before we head to Atlanta. It was hard to say good-bye, but I got one of the recordable books and it was so cool to have his voice for Emme to hear over the next year.

Look at her!!! She owns the place, huh? This was at the nursing home where we met her paternal grandma for the first time...her namesake!

Emery eating doughnuts for her birthday!

Emery's 1st Birthday Party

2011-06-29T14:03:00.007-05:00

Shocker that we couldn't get the other 3 to join us for a pic...but this sure is sweet!!!

My mom took these pics with her camera and I love this one where you can see the amazement in her eyes as we sing "Happy Birthday" and she stares at the candle! Whoops...the wind blew the candle out!She loved the cupcake! It was so cute because she wanted me to feed it to her so that her hands didn't get messy.She kept burying her face in it. It was hilarious.

The kids love the pool. Emery lays back and just floats.

Look at her new bathing suit that Noonie and Papa got her for her birthday! Yummy!

Emery is the sweetest, happiest, easiest baby we have ever had! She is a hoot and is babbling non-stop with facial expressions and tone changes and all. It's a riot because she really is saying something to us...we just have no clue. And she could care less that we have no clue, she's just as happy as could be to chat it up with us. She loves most any food we put in front of her, except oatmeal. She is a pincher, so you've gotta watch out or she'll get a hold of the fat under your arm and just pinch ya HARD. She smiles non-stop, she's a great sleeper, can occassionally fake a tantrum by throwing herself on the floor and shaking her whole body. But she only does that when one of the bigs takes her toy. She is more than our dream...she's a miracle for so many.

We got to see her birthfather on her birthday and it was bliss. We met her paternal grandmother for the first time. I got some incredible pics...they make me teary everytime I see them. Her birthdad was so proud to show her off. I was on cloud 9. We gave him the dog tag necklace for Father's Day that said "Forever in My Heart" and another small tag with "Faith". He was so touched. I pray we can always stay close with him...he is amazing and has such a deep love for this pumpkin. How blessed we all are to have him in our family forever.

Emery Faith...just like with your big brothers and sister...I can't stop praising God for choosing us to be your parents. I pray that you always feel loved by all 4 of your parents and the enormous family you have. You are a miracle and we are reminded of that everytime we see that great big grin and are covered in your slobbery kisses. It's unreal to think that God loves us this much to give you to us. We don't deserve you and we'll spend our lives thanking Him for such a blessing as you. Happy birthday BabyCakes!

BabyCakes Is ONE!!!

2011-06-23T23:57:00.004-05:00

Her first popsicle! She loved it!

I simply cannot believe she is one! It's been a magical day, but I will have to share later. We've been packing like crazy and I swore I wouldn't spend Emme's birthday packing...but with her. SO, now it's go time!!! Closing is scheduled for tomorrow, but these things never happen on time anymore. Either way, we are outta here!

We are in moving gear!

2011-06-20T16:05:00.003-05:00

My mom and grandma brought my dad's truck to get all our stuff for storage. How amazing are they? The kids had a blast in the bed of the truck. My uncle came up from Texas and brought his truck and trailer and loaded the rest of our stuff for storage. We have amazing family!!! After they left our house in the blazing heat, they headed to Tulsa to unload it all for us! No lie...at four o'clock in the afternoon. They love us that much!!!Look close and you can see Sadie's tears. She was crying because she didn't get to hold Emery. Please excuse the hair...we didn't do hair this day. I know tisk tisk.I went in to check on the girls...this is what I found... Emery has two top teeth that completely change her appearance. It's so stinking cute! And her personality is changing so much right now. She is a jabber box and is super silly. One more nut for our traveling circus! I would love to know what's going on in Emery's head!

This is blurry but I just love the way her feet are up there, toes curled. Mercy, I love their feet and the way they are peach on bottom. Can't quit nibblin on those piggies!

I think this was a little fast for BabyCakes!! Look at that face!

Again, I just laugh when I see all these cute pics they took of each other.

I am guessing Owen was chasing Sadie. I love her run and her expression!

Insane

2011-06-18T15:06:00.003-05:00

It's crazy to think this is us only 5 years ago. Sometimes it seems like forever, and then many times I think that had to be just yesterday. We've spent the last two nights at events for the end of the year for Blake's residency. I couldn't be more proud of Blake and the physician that he is. More than anything...I am proud of the choices he's made along the way to put us first. It doesn't happen much in his profession of constant competition that one decides life is not all about him. His life and the way he treats us and loves on us reminds us daily that his job is just that...a job. Blake, I cannot tell you how much that honors me as your wife and as the father of our children. Thank you will never be enough!

The 5 graduating residents all going in different directions. Crazy to think we might never see one another again!

Some of our dear friends Sarah and Tim. We'll miss you guys and good luck!

Great Wolf Lodge we HEART you!

2011-06-15T08:12:00.000-05:00

We had so much fun at Great Wolf Lodge this past weekend with Blake's side of our family.

Savannah and Sadie are besties and it's so cute to watch them! Sadie got up the courage to go on the big slide and loved it!

Thank you Cooper for still putting up with my picture taking madness!

He was also kind enough to share his dipper from his Fun Dip when his baby sister screamed for it. Only.when.you're.the.fourth!!!

Aren't they little supermodels?

Savannah thinks Emery is her baby and wants to keep her forever. Wish we lived closer baby girl!

The boys howling like wolves as we were talking about what to do next!

Sadie was not as into the wave pool as the boys were. Thank goodness because it was cold!

Sadie preferred pools in which she didn't get drenched or even splashed!

So did BabyCakes. She loved the water!!! But she did NOT enjoy getting it in her face and hair.

Is she not the cutest little lovebug? And we only had one man stop and look around worried for where her parents had gone. HA! Right here dude, the two glowing white people in front of her. She belongs to us.

Sadie and Blake during storytime. I tell you what this place is SOOO fun! Its such a joy to see our kids in amazement. Who needs Disney when you've got GWL so close? (Disclaimer: I've never been to Disney)

Oh my! I ADORE this picture. Just something about that face and the way he's looking at me.

It's so wonderfully perfect how the boys have eachother and the girls have one another. Jackson is 10 months younger than Owen and almost 6 months older than Cooper. Savannah and Sadie are just 10 months apart.

She was so determined to walk in the water. She is getting fast too!

We had so much fun and made a ton of memories. One that Blake and I won't quickly forget was when we took all 4 to the hotel room for naps and WE fell asleep before them. We woke to all 4 playing and BabyCakes squealing because someone took her toy. WHOOPS. Best parenting moment ever! We were flat worn out! In case you are wondering, 4 kids is just perfect for us! Emery is our caboose and we've had more moments than we'd like to admit where we know we are complete as the Shockley 6!

More More More

2011-06-07T14:52:00.007-05:00

This is right before the parents leave! Emery was so excited in this picture. That's my 90 year old grandma Grandy that was a HUGE help during camp. How could you not have fun with these 3?

Look close, both Sadie and Cooper are smelling something nasty!

What a stud muffin

All the kids at the shark tank

Sadie thinks the salon smells!

Sister has a lil problem with booties. She feels the need to point it out!

This was after picking out kids up from camp...she's a little tired!

And this is what I did during camp....two of my dear friends live in Dallas. We went to nursing school together and were roomies. My precious MIL kept Emery while Blake worked and studied so that I could have some girl time!!!

Camp Noonie-Papa - Be warned PIC POST

2011-06-05T21:46:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again where our kids have the time of their lives at Camp Noonie-Papa with my parents. There is just no way I can do justice on here of the fun they had and the memories they made. Owen told me it would take him forever to tell me all about it! Mom and dad...THANK YOU!!! This is just a smidgen of the 800 pics my mom took! ENJOY

Drop off dinner. Yep, my mom even coordinates a cookout/swim party for us to drop our babies off!!!

The kids mostly swam and sang their Camp Noonie-Papa song chanting for us to leave!

Sadie got her first ever professional mani-pedi!

They were so excited for their parents to leave!

Look at that face!! They spent a morning with horses and cattle on a local ranch!

Cooper riding!
The older kids (6+ Owen just barely qualified) got to ride on the actual trail ride!

The boys went fishing while the girls got their nails done!!!

They did lots of crafts that they each got to take home! As well as coloring books!

They went to Incredible Pizza, a little like Chucky Cheese but more tolerable for adults!!

A trip to the zoo!

That's my mama, the camp director! She simply amazes me! And yes, she is riding the carousel!

lots and lots of swimming and snacks! There were 9 campers this year!!!

And of course a visit to the acquarium!!

Lovin' Summer

2011-05-31T08:56:00.005-05:00

We spent some time in Tulsa this weekend with my family...we weren't there long, but we sure had some fun!I just love these of the kids!Emery had so much fun riding with the boys, until...

Cooper took one corner too quick, and about lost Emery. LOOK AT THAT FACE!!!!!

The kids have been saving up money and decided they wanted some new pool toys for the summer. Cooper picked out everything for all 4 of them and was too cute because he spent half their money on something their baby could enjoy...this little pool!

I think he enjoyed it too!! Good thing the house sold, this is country to set it up in the front!

Emery tried on her new reusable swim diaper. It was a bit snug!

And finally!!! Sadie will pedal a tricycle!!! The boys mastered this around 15 months, but sister was not interested at all! Crazy to think that this is when both boys started riding without training wheels! It didn't seem so odd at the time!

11 months!

2011-05-24T21:38:00.006-05:00

These were so much fun to try and take! Man, she sure is busy!

She has 3 teeth now! She is walking all the way across the room. She still crawls, but is walking more and more everyday!

Emery LOVES her big brothers and sister. In fact, she and Sadie have a hard time falling to sleep with all of the games of peek-a-boo they play at naps and bedtime!

She lights up when she sees Cooper and Owen, she leans into them for them to hold her. It makes me mush!

Emery loves to swing, splash in the water, stick everything in her mouth and cuddle, cuddle, cuddle. She is also pretty aggressive, which I am sure is completely normal for a fourth child, right? I mean, she is learning from the best! She pinches, pokes, grabs and pulls. She slaps, yanks and screams. It's a hoot because she seems so tiny in comparison to the bigs, but we try and hide our giggles and smiles and remind her to be gentle.

I love this one!!!

She is yelling here. She's hilarious! She mimics the funniest sounds we make. Like I stubbed my toe the other day and let out a "ooooowie" and she echoed it back to me. I died laughing. It was like she was making fun of me!Look at that concentration!

When they saw me taking pics, they all wanted in. How come that only happens when you aren't planning on it happening?

I know. Shame shame that he's not wearing his helmet. But look at my lil guy go!!!

And for an extra chuckle I had to include this. It totally cracks me up to find these mystery pics on the camera! I love you one eyed Sadie, you little Stinkerpot. You make my heart smile!

I love this outfit! Thank you Kim for our sweet clothes!

Super Kids Day

2011-05-23T19:32:00.005-05:00

It was so much fun to help out with Owen's Super Kids day at school. I love this pic for a ton of reasons...love all his sweet friends, love his smile, and I love how his feet are kinda turned in.

This is kind of dark, but so cute how competitive he is!

I have no idea who this first grader is, but she reminded me of Willow Smith. Isn't she adorable?

Owen's friends from school!

I was loving how much fun Owen was having with this dance. Their PE teacher taught all the kids a dance earlier in the year. So he played the music and had the kids do it for us...I was loving every minute of it. They were SO cute!

still dancing...

seriously...how cute is he??

Amir and Cailey

Love these girls! They are such sweeties and they come from incredible families. We've been so blessed by the friendships we've made at school!

I love these Super Kids Day games!

What's that I see?

2011-05-21T20:07:00.003-05:00

Praise Jesus!!! We sold our house just in the nick of time. Just like God, huh? Perfect timing! We couldn't be more thankful and overjoyed to not have to keep it spotless anymore!!!

For Mother's Day my parents got me, my sisters and my grandma tickets to see Josh Groban. The concert was last night and it was sooo good and sooo wonderful to have some girl time! Thank you mom and dad!

Just some cute shots of Blake and the girls I got the other night. I LOVE this picture below. Dang...we are so stinking blessed!

Just had to hop on and share our wonderful news!!!

Lookie what I found...

2011-05-18T19:17:00.005-05:00

When I uploaded the pictures from the camera...I found 47 that I didn't take. Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall around here? Well, here ya go!

Most of them were not much of anything, but enough evidence for me to know who was behind the camera!

These are hilarious of me trying to do Emery's hair...my moving target!

Happy Monday!

2011-05-16T07:09:00.000-05:00

She is now standing and walking 8+ steps without us prompting her to do so! What a fun stage!

Sadie and Turner! They are 5 weeks apart in age and aren't they totally adorable???

This was at the park for the open adoption picnic with our agency. Sadly, none of our birth families could come, but we had fun seeing all of our adoption friends and meeting some of their families!!!

Emery is soo funny. She does this thing where she closes her eyes to make us laugh...and I hadn't caught it on film yet. Of course, this was when she had just eaten dinner and was all messy...but isn't she cute? She is a talker! She babbles constantly, and gets quite loud too. She now calls me MOM. Not mama, but very clearly, "MOM" and she does it like she is yelling for me like a 5 year old does. It's absolutely adorable coming from a 10 month old like she's sooo grown up. She says it over and over and of course it just makes me mush!!!

Sadie's Gotcha Day!

2011-05-14T14:59:00.005-05:00

Thursday was Sadie's special day and it was quite funny letting the two year old make the decisions for the day. She wanted oatmeal for breakfast instead of our traditional donuts. She LOVES herself some oatmeal. Maple brown sugar + peanut butter to be exact!These pictures SO capture her silly spirit. She is 100% goofball. She could NOT sit for a pic and she was having a blast watching mommy sweat trying to catch her for one!!! This was the best I could get. She is saying "cheese" and this was after bribing with jelly beans! All dressed up and ready for our special Gotcha Day guests. Gigi and Papa always come over for dinner on our Gotcha Day. Her response to what she wanted for dinner: "Uh. Uh. Um. Wogurt." Well yummy. We chose Louie's for her!She is watching for Gigi's car. I just thought it was too cute how the kids get so excited for their grandparents.

Gigi brings gifts for all the kids. I love how the boys are helping the girls open theirs! See the boys above with their fighting sticks. They are sooo much fun!

Sweet baby girl...I know I say this over and over again, but you have no idea how long I dreamed of you...your gorgeous skin and your incredible curls and fixing your hair in puffs....it's all a dream come true. Your sass and swagger, your grin and giggles, your "Phoebe run" and your messiness...well, they are just icing on the cake. I will never forget the words of the judge on our finalization day, it's what we believed and felt all along, but now the world recognized it.

Just had to add these of my lil stud. Is he not adorable? Look at that tongue out as he concentrates to stand on his bike.

Hey dude, I am not sure how much that helmet helps when it's not buckled. You silly nut.

Gigi playing with Emme.
Happy Gotcha Day sister!!! If you can't tell, we all adore you!

Keeping Focused

2011-05-11T21:05:00.000-05:00

We've got 2 teeth and almost 4!!! She is walking up to 8 steps and stopping by herself. She'll stand up and just clap because that's what we all do when we see her!

Sadie helping me water last week. As much as I would love a sprinkler system...we have so much fun watering...and it's so peaceful.

Emery getting ready for Rio. She didn't last long! Sorry the pic is off but I was afraid to let go to take the pic! (Side note: her aunt already got on to me for not having shoes on her in the theatre. She kinda forgot that I'm the country one in the family...it's just how we roll when you aren't walking!)

Gigi took us all to the movies with Grandma Shockley! This is Gigi trying to manage Emery...she's a mover!

Aren't they adorable? Man, I am soooo blessed!

________________________________________

We were driving around last night while someone looked at the house.

The kids are growing tired, as are we, of these showings.

Owen piped up, "This is not fun." Blake and I reminded him that we didn't think it was fun either.

Then I told Owen, "Sweetie, a lot of people in Alabama lost their homes to tornadoes...we need to be thankful we are just trying to sell ours."

As soon as it came out of my mouth, I realized I needed to hear that more than he did. Maybe he's not buying what I am selling because I am not living it? Grrr. This parenting thing is hard!

Please Lord, be patient with me while I learn what it is you are trying to teach me here. I hate that I waver so much between trusting you with this, to becoming grumpy with frustration because my plan is obviously not yours. I want your plan. I really do.

So this is what we did tonight during the showing...

I got much better reviews from this outing! Emery LOVES ice cream, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, lasagna, rolls, yogurt and biscuits. Pretty much everything we put in front of her! She has got to be the happiest little thing. Every where we go people stop and comment on how happy she is. It's just about the cutest thing you've ever seen. She is very affectionate and loves to cuddle and kiss anyone. She still loves whispers in her ear, kisses, and singing.

Lovin the sunshine!

2011-05-09T10:26:00.000-05:00

My first Mother's Day as a mom of 4! You can't really see Cooper, but he desperately wanted to hold Emery.

Trying to get pics taken for her birthday invites! Cannot believe she is going to be one soon!

She had a hard time sitting still, but gave me lots of smiles ;o)

We had so much fun making our Mother's Day gifts for our birth moms and mamas.

We went to the zoo last week with some friends. It was gorgeous weather. Emery LOVES the swing about as much as her bigs like pushing her in them!

Peek-a-boo sweetie! I see that tooth poking thru.

Watch out world, I am almost walking!!!

How is my big guy old enough to hold hands with a girl?

I've been waiting to share...

2011-05-01T10:45:00.001-05:00

While we were in Aspen, one of my precious friends posted something interesting on FB. I commented on what it was, long story short, she invited us to church with her family for this special weekend...United in Christ.

I find it hard to put into words what it felt like sitting on a pew next to these dear friends and being a part of something that seemed historical to me. Their church (very diverse, but mostly white) has partnered with another church in our city that is all black for these special events, both churches are Church of Christ. This friend thought of our family as she worshipped with this church in March. It was amazing to be a part of something so wonderful. It was incredible to hear Christians talk candidly about a subject that is taboo. Why are churches, of all places, still rather racially divided?

So of course Blake was out of town and couldn't come, but I loaded up the munchkins and was so excited to see what God had planned. There was a great attendance, and it was beautiful to see all of these families aisle after aisle coming to worship together. Cooper couldn't contain his excitement in so many brown faces like his. He was turned around and pointing, "Mom, look at that brown guy with hair like mine!" over and over again. I had to remind him how it feels to be pointed at. Totally pitted out my shirt.

The music gave me chills. It was just gorgeous. I really enjoyed there being no instruments; I had never been to a Church of Christ service and it was amazing. Although this Baptist-raised-girl had a hard time keeping her booty on the pew and not clapping after every song! Sit.down.sister.

It got me SO excited for Atlanta and visiting more churches that resemble the kids. The next day we headed to Tulsa and I was sharing with my daddy about church and the incredible message it sent. I just couldn't get over the music!!! He asked me if I had ever seen this video below. Get ready, I couldn't contain my tears. Try and visualize what he is singing if you can.

I already checked...he pastors a church in Florida. Bummer!

Thankful Thursday

2011-04-28T09:24:00.003-05:00

This week we are thankful for one huge prayer has been answered.

Blake accepted a job offer with a group in Tulsa starting in August 2012! I am beyond proud of him for how hard he has worked. After fellowship, he will have worked 14 years to make this dream of his come true. It's amazing for us to see how God orchestrated this job. It's been extremely hard for us to fathom leaving so many wonderful friendships, birthmoms, our agency and my precious precious in-laws as we move to Tulsa. But it's also a HUGE blessing that we will be moving closer to my parents and all 3 of my sisters and 7 cousins for the kids!

Congrats babe...we couldn't be more proud of you!!!

Another blessing this week was the doorbell ringing Monday afternoon to some of our neighbors who had filled our front yard with eggs and gifts for the kids!!!!I am also thankful for the other adoptive mommy blogs that share hair care tips and how to's. I put Sadie's hair in beads for the first time and it was sooo much fun for both of us. I never would have done this if these mama's hadn't shown me how!!!I just love this picture of Sadie at the zoo. Isn't she gorgeous? And her personality keeps Blake and I rolling. She is such a pistol.

This Little Light of Mine

2011-04-26T09:53:00.000-05:00

I am going to let it shine!
I often find it hard to contain my joy...sometimes the kids tell me I am crazy and ask me to stop singing and dancing like a dork. But I just can't get my goofy grin off my face! I pray that those who share life with us, as well as those that only see our family from afar, can see Jesus in our lives.

Especially in moments when things don't go as planned-note pic above!

And mostly, our sweet children...that they can feel the love of Jesus through the way we love them.

Easter is changing more and more every year as the boys get older and understand more about
the sacrificial love of our Savior. And with every year it seems as if we've trusted God more with our lives, and seen Him and experienced His love in a whole new way. This year Emery is our sweet reminder of this. It's hard to imagine that THIS is where we were last year!

Emery eating my hair...her favorite right now! Like Blake and I's dorky hold? What in the world?

Ok seriously...she is SO cute!!!

Daddy's littlest princess (the only one who would take pics with us!)